Picking Up Where We Left Off
by hot.boys.hunt.ghosts
Summary: Dean awakes from his coma to find Sam there but his dad gone and only a note to explain. The boys learn of a new hunter and a side of hunting they never new: the side of records and organized hunting. However, the new hunter isn't at all what they thought
1. Chapter 1

Death Be Not Proud, Though Some Have Called Thee

Death be not proud, though some have called thee

Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not soe;

For, those, whom thou think'st, thou dost overthrow,

Die not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill me.

From rest and sleepe, which but thy pictures bee,

Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,

And soonest our best men with thee doe goe,

Rest of their bones, and soules deliverie.

Thou art slave to Fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,

And dost with poison, warre, and sicknesse dwell,

And poppie, or charmes can make us sleepe as well,

And better then thy stroake; why swell'st thou then?

One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally,

And death shall be no more: Death thou shalt die.

John Donne

**Chapter 1**

Everything since the accident had been a complete blur for Sam. The events passed without any real thought; the disappearance of the demon, calling an ambulance, getting his injuries looked at, finding his Dad in the hospital and talking to Dean's doctors. Only now – sitting, exhausted, in Dean's room and reassured that he would be fine and awake in a few hours - did Sam stop and think about what had happened.

"I'll go and get us some coffee," said John Winchester to his youngest son as he hobbled out of the room, not knowing how much it meant to Sam that he was there.

Leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes and drifted into a blissfully dreamless sleep. When he awoke he glanced over at the other chair expecting to see his father, but the chairs only occupants were a cold cup of coffee and an envelope. Sam sighed sadly and reached over and picked up the letter. Hot, angry tears welled up in his eyes as he read what his father had written.

_Dear Sam & Dean,_

_I am so sorry for everything that has happened to you. Please understand that I must kill this demon. It is too dangerous for you to help me and I don't want to see you hurt again. I want you to keep hunting to protect those who can't protect themselves, the innocents. There is one thing that I have not told you, but wish to now and that is that I have helped to train another hunter. If your paths ever cross I want you to join forces and hunt together. This hunter has knowledge and resources greater than even mine. You will know them by a small tear-shaped scar on the right hand. Again I'm so sorry._

_Dad_

As Sam sat pondering the note he noticed Dean stirring and turned his full attention to his brother.

"Shit! My head hurts," cursed Dean "Where am I, Sam?"

"The hospital" replied Sam dryly.

"Where is the demon?" Dean asked

"Gone and who knows where it went," answered Sam

"Where's Dad?" asked Dean, noticing the absence of the eldest Winchester.

Sam solemnly handed the letter to Dean and watched a mixture of sadness and anger pass over his face as he read it. When he had finished it was Sam's turn to ask a question: "So, what now/"

"We do as the letter says and hunt things down, protect the weak and all that jazz," replied Dean in a weary voice that revealed the toll his injuries had taken on him.

"So that's it!" exclaimed Sam angrily, "We just take his orders like good little soldiers and let him go get himself killed! No! I'm not accepting that!"

"Well you will have to. We are going to look for Dad, but he is right we have to help people too," spat Dean, returning his brother's anger in a sudden burst of energy, "We will continue hunting and searching. Maybe we will meet up with this other hunter and maybe they will have some information about getting in touch with Dad."

Sheepish look spread across Sam's face and he said, "Sorry, I didn't mean to yell at you. You're right; it sounds like a good plan."

Dean smirked, "Of course it is, I thought of it didn't I"

**  
**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

The '67 Impala looked ridiculously out of place as it pulled up in front of 32 Partridge Drive. The manicured lawns and white picket fences contrasted sharply with its black frame. Just as the car did not belong in this suburban paradise its occupants didn't either.

"Okay, so a middle-age white female, blond hair, blue eye, perfect soccer mom, vanishes for three months and then her body turns up 500 miles away in Detroit. Dead of an apparent drug overdose, except no drugs in her system, and with an inverted pentagram tattoo – the family is in shock at her actions," recited Sam, looking at a day-old newspaper.

"Yup, now if that doesn't sound like our kind of problem I don't know what does," sighed Dean, "Let's pay the family a visit."

With that he handed a badge to Sam, got out of the car and started toward the front door of the cookie-cutter house. When Sam caught up, they rang the door bell and waited patiently for an answer. The door was opened by a man in his forties who looked like he had lost a lot of weight in a short period of time and hadn't slept a wink in the process.

"Can I help you?" said the skeleton of a man standing before them.

"Yes, Mr. Patterson, actually you can. We are detectives Page and Jones from the Detroit PD…" began Dean.

"Does it really take three of you to put question us about my wife?" interrupted Mr. Patterson, with a sudden burst of anger.

"What?" questioned Sam.

"Detective Plant arrived an hour ago and started the interrogation," replied the disgruntled man.

Looking in the large picture window Dean saw an attractive, but professional looking, young woman. Her chestnut hair was pulled back in a neat pony-tail and she wore a crisp white shirt with a black blazer and dark jeans. She was recording the interview with the youngest Patterson girl. She certainly looked like she was investigating for the cops.

"Well I can see that you really don't want any more people disturbing you so we will leave you alone and catch up with Detective Plant later. Sorry about the inconvenience," covered Dean quickly.

"So, what now?" asked Sam in an exasperated tone, "we can't question the family, so how do we know what really happened."

"Simple, we catch up with Detective Plant," answered Dean like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "But until we can find the good detective I say we find a place to stay and get something to eat because I am starving."

"And how are we supposed to find Plant later?" demanded Sam.

"How many black Mercedes with an out of state licenses plate do you suppose there are in this town?" said Dean pointing towards the sleek car parked in the driveway.

"Not that many," conceded Sam, "Okay sounds like a plan."

After they had found a cheap motel, the brothers headed to a local diner. They were just about to walk through the door when Sam spotted the detective's car and pointed it out to Dean.

"Okay I'll go in and talk to her. Tell her I'm a reporter or something," said Dean in an off-handed sort of manner.

"Why do you get to go talk to her?" asked Sam slightly annoyed.

"Because I'm better with the ladies," stated Dean as if it should have been obvious and walked away.

"Yeah, right," mumbled Sam.

Dean walked through the doors of the diner and was greeted with the familiar smell of grease and coffee. It only took him a second to locate the brunette sitting alone in a booth with paper scattered across the table. He walked over to the table with a swagger in his step.

"Hi, I'm from a local paper and I was wondering if you would be willing to answer some questions about the investigation into the death of Mary Patterson?" lied Dean.

"I would be delighted to answer all of your questions Mr. Winchester if you would call your brother in. I don't want to have to repeat myself," she answered to a dumbfounded Dean.

**Chapter 3**

"Who are you?" stuttered Dean in complete and utter shock.

"Like I said, I don't want to answer all these questions twice, so if you would kindly get your brother we can sit down and sort things out," responded the woman in a calm tone. As she looked up from her paper for the first time her clear blue eyes met Dean's green ones and he decided it would be best to get Sam.

He motioned to Sam – who was standing outside by the window – to come in and took a seat in the booth across the table from the brunette. When Sam entered he had a confused look on his face and took a seat next to Dean. He noted the strikingly beautiful, but rather emotionless, features of the woman across from him and couldn't help but wonder if she was something other than the detective he assumed she was.

"To answer your question, Dean, my name is Catherine Miller and to answer the question I'm sure is coming, I know who you are because your father keeps pictures of you in his wallet," she stated simply.

"You know our father?" asked Sam puzzled.

"I thought my statement made that clear but, yes I do know your father. I have known him since I was four years old," Catherine answered.

"Are…are you the other hunter my dad said he trained?" stuttered Dean, trying to come to grips with the secrets his father kept.

"Let me give you a brief history of my life and my family that might answer more of your questions in less time than if you asked," she said, "I am 24 years old. I was born and raised in a small town in Kansas. My family is a family of Chroniclers, meaning that we join forces with a hunter and record the creatures and spirits that the hunter fights, the methods used and other details so as to aid future hunters in their exploits. Also, it is the job of a chronicler to provide for a hunter: information, weapons, money or whatever else they may need."

"What?" the Winchester boys chorused in unison.

"Let me continue," Catherine uttered, with minor annoyance, "My father met John Winchester 2 years after he started hunting and became his chronicler. That's when I met your father and he was in and out of my life from that time on. You see, my family comes from old money - real old, British nobility old - so my father was able to finance your father's efforts. I grew up knowing that the things that go bump in the night are real and knowing how to protect myself, but I didn't start hunting 'til I was fourteen. That's when your Dad started to train me on the finer points of hunting. I went to high school and had an almost normal life except for hunting things on school breaks and weekends. I went to college and majored in Ancient Civilizations. After I graduated I took up hunting full time. Any questions?" she finished.

"Yeah a few," said Dean with an incredulous look on his face, "First off, are you serious? Second, why was I never informed of this and lastly, where is your father now if he is supposed to help our dad?"

"Yes, I don't know, I'm guessing your dad told you to identify me by this," she said, flashing a tear shaped scar on her right hand "and six feet under," she responded, never letting the pain in her eyes reach her voice as she answered Dean's last question.

"Oh…" started Dean but was cut off by Sam.

"I'm sorry, we didn't know. In fact we didn't know anything about you. If you don't mind me asking: how much do you know about us?"

"That's alright I've accepted that he is gone. As for what I know about you I know, you're 22 and Dean is 26, I know you went to Stanford and Dean started to hunt after high school, I know you're more in touch with your emotions while Dean hides behind his bravado, I know Dean is a womanizer and I know about Jessica and for your loss I am sorry. I, also, no other less significant details that I won't bother to mention, but just know this your dad talks about you a lot," Catherine met Sam's gaze as she finished and suddenly knew that she had a better understanding of him than he ever could have guessed.

"Whoa," whistled Dean, "Catherine, you have us wrapped in a nutshell."

"I've all been told of your penchant for sarcasm," Catherine shot back, "And call me Cate."

"Okay. Touchy," mumbled Dean.

At this comment Cate merely raised an eyebrow, making Sam struggle to suppress a laugh.

"Okay, enough with the history lesson. It is time to get to business, the thing hear is a demon. I ran into it once before, but the sneaky bastard managed to get away. It possesses the body of an individual and then uses the body to cause as much emotional pain and suffering as possibly can. It feeds on the suffering it causes then it kills the host body, moving on to another; however, it sticks around long enough to feed on the pain caused by the death, which means we have to find it soon or it will slip between the cracks again," explained Cate, in a hushed tone so that no one else in the diner overheard what was being said.

"What makes you think this is the same demon?" questioned Dean.

"The tattoo found on the body of Mrs. Patterson was the same design and found in the same place as on the other victims I've dealt with," she said simply, handing the brothers pictures of three bodies with inverted pentagram tattoos on their sternum.

"Well how do we kill it then?" this time the question came from Sam.

"We find whoever it is possessing and exorcize it, killing the demon and leaving the host unharmed," answered Cate.

Sam's questions did not end there: "And how do you propose we find this person?"

"With you of course, O psychic boy-wonder," retorted Cate with a wicked grin on her face.

**Chapter 4**

At this comment both of the Winchester boys' jaws dropped and Cate thought it best to explain her plan.

"The demon is trying to feed on the misery caused by the death, right? So it will show up at the funeral and that is where Sam – and his uncanny ability to sense evil things – will be able to pick out the demon."

"And what if I can't sense this demon? What if I'm not good enough?" said Sam

"Well then I guess we will have to manage to slip the name of God into a conversation with everyone there, in Latin of course," was her answer, "I hope your black suits are clean because the funeral is tomorrow."

"What, a suit?" Dean looked more terrified at the thought of wearing a suit than hunting a demon.

"Yes, we want to fit in and look professional because we are officers of the law," she said with a smirk that looked suspiciously like the won most often worn by Dean, "We will also have to be careful because the demon will be strong because of all the sorrow of the victims family and friends."

They spent the next few hours going over the plan for the next day, when the hour hand on the clock above the door was approaching the 12 the decided to call it a night.

"Where are you staying, because if you don't have anywhere to go there is always room in my bed" said Dean slyly, with a wink.

"I have a room at the motel, but I might have taken that offer…if it came from your brother," she said with a grin as she walked away toward her car.

Dean turned to look at Sam, who was grinning shyly and then turned back to watch Cate. "What are you laughing at, O psychic wonder?"

"You being turned down, O great womanizer," replied Sam with a chuckle.

"Well at least it's a good view when she walks away," said Dean, glancing after Cate as she reached her car on the other side of the parking lot.

They reached the motel to find Cate getting out of her Mercedes. As she grabbed her bag out of the trunk Dean noticed that it was shallower than the car gave the appearance of having.

"Trick trunk? What you got stashed down there?" he inquired.

"The same as what I imagine you have, weapons and other supplies needed in our line of work that would be rather awkward to explain the presence of to anyone else who saw the trunk," she said, flashing a megawatt smile.

"What room are you in?" asked Sam.

"Well if that isn't a bit forward of you, Sammy, I don't know what is," commented Dean.

"I meant so that we could find her in the morning, jerk" retorted Sam.

"If I had my way all I would have to do is roll over," muttered Dean so that the only one who could hear was Sam.

"My room number is 57," she said answering Sam's question, "And what is yours?"

"49. So if the funeral is at 10 and the wake is at 12, we should get breakfast by like 9 so we can be ready for the wake," calculated Sam out loud.

"It takes you three hours to get ready? Or is it Dean who is the prima donna?" jested Cate.

"For your information we have to get suits," snapped Dean.

"Testy much? Sorry I just thought in this line of business a suit is often needed," Cate apologized. "Well, anyway, thanks Sammy and see you tomorrow." With that she waved and headed off toward her room.

"Hey! Why do you let her call you Sammy and not me?" questioned Dean as Sam grabbed his bag from the trunk and walked toward their room.

"Because she isn't my jerk of an older brother," responded Sam in a slightly exasperated voice.

"Its 'cause she's hot isn't it. Can't resist all women's charm no matter how hard you try Sammy," joked Dean.

"Whatever," sighed Sam.

When they reached the room the room Dean flopped down of the nearest bed and asked Sam the question that they both knew had to be asked, "So, do we trust her?"

"I don't get any bad vibes from her and she seems to be working for the greater good," stated Sam.

"And Dad seems to trust her, which is good enough for me. He has great instincts," commented Dean.

"Agreed, we trust her, to a point that is. Next question: do we keep her around after this job?" Sam asked.

"Well, that is what Dad wanted and she might have information about his whereabouts, plus she adds so much to the scenery," said Dean, a sly smirk creeping across his lips.

**Chapter 5**

Dean woke up early the next day and crept quietly to the bathroom to take a shower. Once he had finished in the bathroom Dean decided to head down to room 67 to see if the lovely Catherine was awake yet. When he reached the door he brought his hand up and rapped briskly on the door.

"I'm coming," was the response he received.

Ten seconds later Dean heard the chain being pulled back and the door opened to reveal Cate toweling dry her hair and wearing only a robe, a bra and, he assumed because they were not visible, panties.

"Good morning, Dean," she greeted him. A warm smile crossed her lips as she said this and it lingered after creating an odd flurry of movement in Dean's stomach.

"Good morning, Cate," replied Dean, quickly dismissing the emotion as nothing more than a simple physical attraction, though feeling was usually a little further south. "So, you're up early."

"Why do you say it's early if you're up too?" inquired Cate.

"Well it is 7:30, which is kind of early and besides, Sam probably won't be up for another hour," countered Dean.

"I suppose so. So are you going to stand in the hall all day or are you going to come in," she said, walking away from the door. "What exactly is it that brings you to my door step, if you don't mind me inquiring?"

"Curiosity, to tell you the truth. There is so much that you seem to know about us and I don't know all that much about you," responded Dean, as he sat down on the chair she had motioned to and she sat on the bed after pulling on pants.

"Well, what do you want to know?"

"First off how does this whole Chronicler thing work?" asked Dean.

"When a chronicler meets a hunter and agrees to help them it becomes the chronicler's life work to record the various exploits of the hunter. They record accounts, note the powers and various features of the thing in question and keep any artifacts from the encounter," she began in a very teacher-like tone, "It is, also, the job of the chronicler to provide for the hunter as killing dark things isn't a very profitable business. So, they provide money and supplies. Lastly, they have access to all of the previous information collected by their ancestors which is kept in archives to be accessed if the information is ever needed by a hunter. Does that help you any more than what I said last night?"

"Yeah, a bit," said Dean, "And your father did this for my dad?"

"Yes and I continued after he died, as well as hunting myself. Well, the family fortune provided the money," she answered.

"If you were giving him information to my dad were you able to contact him when he disappeared?" pressed Dean.

Cate nodded.

"So, that's it. How come you get a contact number and his own sons don't? What makes you so special?" spat Dean, all of the anger, resentment and pain caused by his father cracking through the shell he had created.

"Because he promised my father, just before he died, that he would always be there for me when I needed him and that he would do everything he could to protect me from the evils of the world and try to shield me from pain and suffering. Your father didn't want you involved with this demon and look what happened it almost got you killed. Your father loves you and is trying to protect you, whether or not you need it," she answered in a calming tone, trying to make Dean understand his father's actions.

"I … I had no idea," stuttered Dean at a loss for words with this new revelation. "If you don't mind me asking, when did your father die?"

"It happened when I was 14. He was on a hunt with your father. He was only bringing John some information and they ran into the demon John was hunting. He couldn't defend himself. That's why I started hunting: I didn't want to end up defenseless. From then on your father was more involved in my life and I always had contact information," explained Cate, with a touch of sadness in her voice.

"What about your mother?" asked Dean.

"She died when I was little. I don't really remember her," sighed Cate.

"How…" began Dean, but a knock came at the door.

"Its Sam, can I come in?" he shouted through the door.

"Coming…" said Cate, alighting from the bed to answer the door, hauling on a top in the process.

"Did Dean wake you up early to put you through a recreation of the Spanish Inquisition?" joked Sam as he entered the room.

"No, I had been up, gone for run and showered before Dean knocked on my door," said Cate light-heartedly, smiling at the two brothers.

"Whoa, not one to sleep in, are you?" exclaimed Sam, returning her smile and marveling at the odd, but intriguing creature before him.

"Come on, let's go get breakfast. I'm starving," she said, grinning, as she grabbed a coat and headed for the door, "Are you coming?"


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 6**

During breakfast the trio swapped hunting tales, laughing over the other's follies and taking turns being impressed at their feats. The boys never would have guessed the shear number and strength of demons that the young huntress had taken down. They both came away with a slightly better idea of whom they were paired up with and feeling that this had been one their most enjoyable meals in a long time.

As the brothers entered the tailor's shop Dean's thoughts couldn't help but turning to Cate. Man was she hot. The whole hunting thing certainly kept her body in good shape; she was toned but not too muscular and lean enough to suggest plenty of stamina-inducing-cardio. And what an important thing stamina is. Also, she was so funny…wait what does funny have to do with anything? thought Dean confused.

While Dean was thinking this, Sam's thoughts veered down the same path. Cate seemed to have the perfect mixture of beauty and brains: not gorgeous and brainless, but also not super smart and ugly and she was some one that he wouldn't have to lie to about who he was, what he did. But why was he thinking this? He loved Jess right? And he was trying to find her killer to exact revenge.

Their thoughts were both interrupted as the walked into the store and a small, rather plump man asked them if they needed help finding anything. All thoughts of Cate were banished as the Winchester brothers spent the next hour trying on various suits before deciding on the very first suits they tried on.

"What has the ghost of John Belushi come to haunt us?" laughed Cate, at Dean, when she opened the door of her room to find him standing there in his suit.

"Ha ha," grumbled Dean, "Very funny. What about Dan Aykroyd here?"

"On the contrary, Sam looks rather dapper in a suit," replied Cate grinning.

The insulted looked that possessed Dean's face was enough to Sam laugh: "Don't worry big brother, no one can pull off the haven't-showered-for-three-days-trucker-look quite like you."

"Lets get down to business, shall we," said Cate, breaking Dean's shock induced daze.

"Okay, we have a wake to crash, so let's get going," commanded Dean, finding his voice.

They arrived at the house and had to park a block away because of all the people who showed up to pay their respects.

"This is not good. How do you expect me to pick out one person in this crowd?" asked Sam in a defeated tone as the entered the crowed house.

"Because I know you can," responded Cate reassuringly.

"What are you doing here, detectives, come to ask more questions have you?" demanded Mr. Patterson when he spotted them.

"Not at all, sir. During the investigation we learned what a truly kind and generous person your wife was and we are here to pay our respects," lied Cate in a kind and sincere voice.

"Oh," was Mr. Patterson's only response.

"Sorry," said Sam as a young blond woman brushed past him. All of a sudden he felt as if something was very wrong with the woman. When Mr. Patterson walked away, he tapped Cate on the shoulder and whispered in her ear, "The demon is possessing her," pointing towards the blond.

"Okay, you two go to the bathroom and get ready. I'll get her in there," said Dean, taking charge when Sam told him.

Sam and Cate cautiously made their way to the bathroom and slipped inside. Once inside they set to work placing salt around the window, door and any other space through which the demon could escape. They then remove the vials of holy water Cate had kept in her purse, with the salt and opened John's journal to the appropriate page for the exorcism.

Just when they had finished the prep work, Dean backed the blond into the room. Spinning around, the girl hissed when she saw Cate and Sam. Cate quickly started to recite the words of the exorcism in Latin, while Sam doused the girl in holy water. Screaming in pain she lashed out at Cate and sent her flying into the wall. Dean reached out and grabbed the struggling blond and tried to restrain her. Cate stood up, and continued the ritual, never breaking the flow of words from her mouth. The girl gave one final shriek as the demon was killed and then slumped to the floor, unconscious.

"Some one is bound to have heard that. Lets get out of here," said Sam.

Once outside and safely arriving at the motel dean broke the silence: "Well one thing is for sure, blonds do have more fun," he said unable to hide a grin.

**Chapter 7**

After the incident at the wake, the hunters thought it would be best if they skipped town before any questions could be asked. They spent the night sleeping in their cars and that was how they ended up at a dinner leafing through newspapers and searching the internet for any suspicious deaths or events.

"This is hopeless," groaned Sam pushing his laptop away from him.

"Sam, shut up! We will find something and then we will go and kick supernatural ass," fumed Dean.

"Or we could resume the search for Dad?" suggested Sam in earnest.

"Or you could…' began Dean.

"Wait a minute, I might have something," said Cate staring at her laptop screen.

The boys looked over, their disagreement temporarily forgotten. "It says hear that the local theatre company in Easton, Kansas is performing the opera Tosca," continued Cate.

"Yeah, so what?" questioned Dean.

"It says hear that the play is rumored to be cursed and that every time it is performed some one dies in the audience on one of nights of its run," replied Cate, shooting Dean a dirty look.

"Oh, a cursed opera, why didn't you say so?" said Dean. "So do you think it is like the whole Macbeth thing, where the opera itself is cursed or is it the theatre? Because if it is the opera there really isn't much we can do, is there?"

"Tosca is one of the most popular operas and people aren't dropping like flies elsewhere so I assume it would be the theatre or the theatre company," responded Cate in a business like tone.

"So, we're off to Kansas," Sam stated.

"Yeah, I have a place in Leavenworth, which isn't that far from Easton, so we can stay there," suggested Cate.

"Now, why would we do that?" asked Dean.

"We will be close enough, have all the supplies we need handy, we'll have more space than a cramped motel room and maybe we can stop eating gross diner food for a couple of days," said Cate poking her food with her fork.

"I don't know about you, Dean, but that sounds awfully good to me," interjected Sam.

"Okay, and of course if you are short on beds I can always bunk with you," said Dean slyly to Cate.

"I don't think that will be a problem," responded Cate with a light smile. "It's a few hours away, so if we get going now we should be there by supper time."

Cate jotted down directions to her place and told them that it was on the outskirts of town before getting into her car a driving away. The boys stayed a few minutes longer and paid for their breakfast. When they were ready to leave Cate was long gone and they had several hours to imagine what exactly her home was like. When they were nearing their destination Sam broke the silence that had fallen, "So what do you think her place is like?"

"Well judging by the surrounding, a cottage," guessed Dean. "There it is, the gravel road she said to turn down," spotting the turn off Dean made a left and drove down the rough track.

As they turned around a bend in the road the house came into view for the first time and it was not at all what they expected. A huge Victorian mansion loomed before them, its spires silhouetted against the setting sun.

"Whoa," exclaimed Dean.

"Yeah, whoa is right," said Sam.

They pulled up around the front the house and were greeted by Cate who was, at that moment, unloading all her stuff from the trunk of her car, "Hey, did you find the place okay? I had you come in the back way so that you didn't have to back-track through the city" explained Cate as they got out of the car.

"You live here?" asked Dean, shocked.

"Well, only some of the time. Mostly I'm on the road hunting, but it's good to have a place to crash and restock my supplies every so often," said Cate casually.

"No, you live _here_?" pressed Dean.

"I told you that it is the job of a chronicler to finance a hunter and I also said that my family had money. This is my family estate, eight generations of Millers have lived and sometimes died here," answered Cate matter-of-factly.

"Oh, yeah," said Dean.

"I'm just going to drop my stuff inside the door and then take the car to the garage, if you want to follow me with yours," suggested Cate as she hauled her stuff up the steps and opened the front door.

"Sure thing," responded Sam and motioned Dean back to the driver's seat. "So, did you ever think…?"

"That she was loaded? No!" said Dean, finishing and answering Sam's question.

Cate got in her car and drove it around the side, followed closely by Dean. She drove it into what looked like and old barn. When Dean drove the Impala through the doors he and Sam were shocked at what they saw. The barn had been converted so that what must have at some point been stalls for horses now housed cars. The place was huge and there must have been at least 25 vehicles, all covered and sitting ready for use. By the looks of it there must have been 5 motorcycles, a truck, a SUV and all the rest were cars.

"You can just stay parked in the middle where you are," Cate told Dean as she finished covering the Mercedes.

"Sure, sure thing," mumbled Dean.

As they walked back to the house the brothers had time to take in more of their surroundings. They noticed the manicured gardens that were located around the property.

"Do you live here alone?" inquired Sam.

"Why yes I do. Why do you want to know, thinking of stalking me are you?" she teased Sam.

He turned a deep shade of pink before responding: "No, I was just noticing how well kept the property is for some one who says they aren't home a lot."

"Well, I wouldn't mind if you did. Anyway, to answer your question, my aunt lives in town and she loves to garden, so she takes care of this place," answered Cate with a sly grin. "And speak of the devil, here she is now."

They looked towards the front of the house Sam and Dean spotted an older woman standing next to a silver BMW. A smile broke on her face and as Cate ran forward and hugged her.

"Aunt Pat, this is Sam and Dean, John's boys. Sam and Dean this is my wonderful Aunt Pat," said Cate grinning wildly. "I called her when I got home to bring some supplies. Lord knows I don't keep anything to eat in the house."

"So, boys, nice to meet you, but I suspect you three aren't in town just to visit little old me. What is it that you are hunting this time?" questioned the woman.

"A cursed play or something like it, we really don't know all the details yet," said Sam.

"Well let me fix you all a good, home cooked meal because if you are anything like Cate here you probably haven't had one in a while," laughed Pat.

"While you get started on that in the kitchen I'll show them to their rooms," suggested Cate.

Aunt Pat agreed and they made their way up the front steps into the spacious foyer.

Cate led them up the stairs and the boys remarked how huge and fine the house and workmanship really was. They reached the first room and it was decided that Sam would take it. The walls were a dark blue and the large, antique furniture matched the dark wood floors that were in the seemingly all of the rooms. There was a large bay window that over-looked the rear gardens. The next room – across the hall – was a deep red with a large, four-poster bed with crimson hangings as the focus of the room. It also, had a fire-place with a bear-skin rug in front of it, as well as two chairs. It was perfect for Dean.

"There is a bathroom for the two of you to share right next to Dean's room," said Cate and Sam went to inspect it.

"So, where is your room?" asked Dean with a grin on his face.

"Why? Do you want to know incase poor Deany has a night-mare," joked Cate.

"Honey, if I was in your bed there wouldn't be much sleeping," retorted Dean, a cocky grin on his face.

"No, I don't suppose there would be, you would be in to much pain," countered Cate and then turned and walked down stairs.

"Wait, what do you mean by that?" asked Dean, following her.

"Simple," answered Cate. "I'd kick your ass."

**Chapter 8**

Noticing the insulted look on Dean's face as he exited the bathroom Sam asked, "What happened?"

"Nothing," responded Dean quickly.

"Anyway," began Cate, "I'll go get the two of you some sheets for the beds and some pillows – as the ones currently on the bed are just for show – if you want to head down to the kitchen. It's at the back of the house, down the hall you might have noticed when you came in."

"Do you need a hand with anything?" inquired the always helpful Sam.

"Sure. It will save me an extra trip," said Cate.

"Well, I guess I'll go down to the kitchen and see what's cooking," mumbled Dean and he took off down the stairs.

"The linens are kept upstairs, so follow me," Cate directed Sam as she started down the hall.

They made their way to the back of the house with Cate in the lead. She turned up a small stair case and made her way to the top with Sam close behind. She unlocked the door and walked in.

"Oh, Sam," she began but was interrupted by a loud thud and a small 'Ow!', "Watch your head," she finished.

"Thanks for the warning," said Sam, rubbing his head and smiling.

"It's an old house, low ceilings," explained Cate as she turned on the light. The sight Sam was greeted with was not that of an ordinary house. There were guns, knifes and weapons of all kinds on the walls and in cabinets along those walls.

"Wow, Dean would have thought he died and went to heaven if he saw this place," whistled Sam.

"Yeah, well, you have to be prepared," said Cate. "Now let's get those sheets."

The top floor of the house seemed to consist of many small rooms on either side of a small corridor.

"What's in all of these?" asked Sam.

"This and that – some rooms have more weapons, some have talismans and protective charms; others have practical household items like furniture, china and of course linens and then there are the rooms dedicated to the hunters' files," Cate told Sam.

"What? Do you mean that the records are here?" questioned Sam. "Are my dad's here?"

"Of course. His stuff is in here," said Cate, opening the second door on the left of the hall. The room was filled with filing cabinets labeled _John Winchester_: there were dates ranging back twenty years. As Sam looked over all of the drawers he marveled at the sheer number of them and then he notice two drawers – one labeled: _Dean Winchester_ and the other _Dean & Sam Winchester _– with the corresponding dates.

"How do you have files on me and Dean?" demanded Sam.

"Your dad would report to me about what he sent Dean to hunt and what you boys told him, so that I could keep a record. I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier," apologized Cate.

"That's okay, I didn't mean to sound so angry. I mean, I know its not your fault, it's just that Dad seems to have kept so much of his life a secret and it's tough to take in all at once," explained Sam. "I guess it is nice to have a record of what we've done. So you've kept all these since you were fourteen?"

"Yup. I actually started working on the records when I was eight, training for my future in the family business," answered Cate with an amused smirk.

"If you were destined to do this, whose hunts were you supposed to record?" inquired Sam.

"Dean's, but you might not want to tell him that or else his ego might inflate to a point where his neck can no longer support the weight. I can only imagine what he would say if he knew I was supposed to be his chronicler," said Cate. "I mean you can tell him if you want to; you seem to have this weird aversion to secrets. You can come back later if you want to inspect the records, but we should probably get those sheets."

They got the sheets and pillows from the overcrowded linen room and were making there way down the stairs when they saw Dean poke his head around the corner at the bottom of the stairs.

"What have the two of you been doing that's taking you two so long? Each other?" demanded Dean. "She has been making me cook."

"Sorry, just showing Sam some of my hunting stuff," answered Cate, ignoring Dean's comment, "And you could use some domestic skills."

Sam just grinned and the trio made their way down stairs to the spacious kitchen. Aunt Pat was standing over the stove stirring a pot.

"You are just in time, dinner is ready," she said as she ladled the sauce onto the chicken.

When it was put down on the table the Winchester boys started eating with such vigor that Aunt Pat had to ask if the last time they ate was 1999. As they were finishing their third helping the pace slowed and the group started to chat.

"So, was this one here a wild child in her teen years?" asked Dean after learning that it was her aunt that took care of Cate after her dad died.

"I most certainly was not," retorted Cate.

"Well, dear you did have your wild moments," said Aunt Pat, "You did spend a lot of time out with your friends on school nights."

"Only because on the weekend I was most likely to be found out of state with a shotgun in hand fighting some evil creature," countered Cate defensively.

"What about the time you didn't come home after a weekend? That time all I got was a phone call to tell your school you had strep throat. That was a rather wild child moment," reminded Aunt Pat, raising one eye-brow.

"You make it sound like I ran away with the Hell's Angles to spend my days as a criminal doing coke," said Cate. She looked at the boys and began, "I was in New York making an appearance at some benefit for an organization the family business was making a large donation to and I happened to here about this ghost that was terrorizing an a small town. Anyway, I made my way up to this small town in Connecticut – something Hollow – and took a couple of days to get rid of the bastard. Three people had died; what was I supposed to do? Go back home like a good little girl and let people keep dying. I think not."

"Sounds reasonable," responded Dean, understanding her point.

"I was just thinking, Cate, those records you showed me up in the attic, where are the ones from your hunts?" asked Sam out of the blue.

"Records?" inquired Dean.

"We are a family of chroniclers, we keep records from all the hunters," said Cate "Mine are in the library, I haven't gotten around to moving my files upstairs. Plus, I like to have them out for easy access."

"Really, records, I would like to see them," said Dean in a serious tone.

"Honey, take them to the library now and I'll do the dishes," suggested Aunt Pat.

"Okay then, follow me," Cate agreed.

The boys rose and followed Cate out of the kitchen and to the library. It was a huge, two-story room with the walls covered in books of all shaped and sizes.

"Now control yourself Sam, I know you think this is heaven, but it is only a room," joked Dean.

"Here are the latest records," said Cate ignoring Dean and Sam's bright pink face. "While the two of you look at these I'm going to surf the net for information about the Easton Theatre Company and past productions of Tosca."

They settled down, each to their own task and it wasn't long before the only sounds heard were gentle breathing, the soft rustle of papers being shuffled and the clicking of computer keys.

"Hey, why are our names and hunts in here?" demanded Dean when he stumbled upon some of the records of his cases.

"Your dad is awful proud of you and can't help but tell me all of your exploits," said Cate disguising the truth with sarcasm.

"Oh," said Dean, "Screw you."

"Only if you're gentle," retorted Cate.

"If the two of you are done: have you found anything about the play in Easton?" piped up Sam.

"Opera and yes. In 1966 it was performed and the woman who played the lead disappeared. After the scene in which Tosca, the title character, commits suicide the actress was never seen again. The theatre company said she just disappeared, it was never investigated as if she was dead, only missing."

"So you think some one offed her and then hid the body, creating one pissed off spirit?" asked Dean crudely, still smarting from her earlier comment.

"That's about right. She disappeared on the seventh night of the performance and that is the night when all of the other people have died," responded Cate. "And there are similarities between the victims: all in their mid-twenties, all men, all blond and athletic. Probably like whoever killed the actress, Molly Pitts."

"So, we find the body, burn it and we're done. Simple," said Sam.

"But remember, its not over until the fat lady sings," commented Dean, a smile playing on his lips.

**Chapter 9**

The next morning Dean awoke from what was probably the most refreshing sleep he had had in a long time. First, he wasn't sleeping in a cheap motel bed in which God knows how many people had slept before and man were Cate's sheets soft. Secondly, Sam wasn't in the room mumbling and shouting in his sleep. He got up and made his way to the bathroom to take a hot shower. Even this was better than the showers he was used to; with the products he found waiting for him he spent almost forty-five minutes scrubbing all traces of the filth that accumulated when traveling from his body. Stepping out of the shower he looked over at the fogged up mirror. Written there was a message and Dean hadn't heard anyone enter the room. Throwing a towel around his waist, jotted down the message and then raced downstairs to find Cate stirring a cup of coffee and reading the paper in the kitchen. He threw the paper down in front of Cate and demanded: "What is this?"

Cate picked up the note and read aloud: "What runs all day and never walks/ Often murmurs, never talks / Has a bed and never sleeps / Has a mouth and never eats? A river," she answered automatically. "You rushed down here in nothing but a towel to ask me a riddle."

"Oh," said Dean at the realization that it was a riddle and not some cryptic message. "I mean why was it written on the mirror in the bathroom?"

"It must be my great-great-aunt Edna. She likes to play tricks sometimes. It can be really amusing when the house is rented out for an event and something goes missing. The panic it induces is ridiculous," chuckled Cate.

"Your house is haunted?" questioned Dean. "Couldn't you just get rid of her burn her body or something?"

"To my own family, I think not," said Cate offended. "Besides she doesn't cause any harm and she once caught a criminal. A cat-burglar broke in at she tramped him in the closet with the silver-wear. When I found him in the morning and called the cops they told me they had been looking for this guy for awhile. His name Alec something-or-other – apparently he was quite infamous."

"Dean, why are you wearing just a towel?" asked Sam as he entered the room.

"My morning routine was interrupted her dead ancestor who thinks it is funny to harass people when they get out of the shower," grumbled Dean. "If you don't mind I think I'll go get dressed."

"Oh please do, the sight of your half-naked body is enough to make me want to jump you right here," quipped Cate, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"I tend to have that effect on women," replied Dean.

"Of course it could be the effect of your brother and you're only the result of transference," shot back Cate, not being one to back down from the silent challenge Dean presented.

"Now don't you go dragging me into this," said Sam, hands raised in that keep-me-out-of-this gesture.

"Moving on, I say we go by and check out the theatre today," announced Cate.

Dean mumbled something about a good idea and getting pants and then wandered away toward his room, leaving Sam and Cate alone.

"So, what is your plan to get us into the theatre?" asked Sam breaking the uncomfortable silence.

"I am thinking of saying we are interested in the theatre's spectacular architecture – which they laud on their web site – and would like to take a closer look. There is no reason to go as anything official, like cops, nor can we pass as building inspectors since the annual inspection takes place at the end of the year," replied Cate.

"Okay, I hope it works," sighed Sam, "Tonight is the seventh night of the opera's run."

When Dean finally emerged, fully dressed, the three young hunters piled into the Impala and drove to Easton. They pulled up outside the theatre and walked inside the building. Dean spotted the attractive young blond at the box office and smiled.

"Cate, Sammy, if you don't mind I'll do the talking this time," said Dean making his way over to the girl.

Sam mumbled something about it being Sam not Sammy, but put up no further objections. After a few minutes of talking Dean strode back over with a grim look on his face.

"She said she would be delighted to give me a tour any other time but not today because of the production tonight: 'No one in the theatre, special arrangements are being made because tonight is the high society affair,'" Dean told Cate and Sam.

"I guess we will have to check it out tonight. I'm betting the victim won't die until the end of the opera, so that gives us a couple of hours tonight to find and burn the body. Let me handle this now," said Cate and she walked over to the box office. When she returned she was holding four tickets.

"Why do you have four? There are only three of us," questioned Sam.

"Because I bought out the last box so no one will notice if we go missing," explained Cate.

"Good thinking," said Dean. "Now let's go home and prep. for this."

"I have one thing to ask you boys: do you have tuxes in that trunk because if you don't we will have to get you some," inquired Cate.

"No, why do we need them?" demanded Dean.

"High society means a black tie event. Black tie equals a tux for the men and a ball gown for the women. I have a selection of ball gowns at the house, so I'm good but the two of you need to make another trip to the tailors," explained Cate.

"Hunting with you is becoming expensive," grumbled Dean.

"Yeah, lucky for you I'm paying the expenses," retorted Cate, grinning.

Hours later the trio were preparing at the house. As Cate strapped the gun holster to her hips she let her mind wander, the routine of preparing for a hunt controlled her actions. She had finally met the Winchester boys. After years of hearing about them and their lives they had at last entered hers. They were in most ways exactly what she had expected: Sam was the quiet one, not so dedicated to hunting the supernatural and Dean was…well Dean was the womanizing, rash, take-no-prisoners hunter that his father had described. Then again their father had neglected to mention, or perhaps he didn't know, all of the anger Sam had or all of the pain Dean was hiding. To her they were puzzles with the picture mostly complete but a few pieces missing. Then she thought of what she must be to them: an enigma, something new and unexplained, a secret that there father kept. From what she had told them she must be like a cross-word puzzle done by and eight year-old, filled with blanks and unanswered questions. They didn't know half of the information John knew about her and with all the secrets she kept from John he didn't all that much about what she felt. Still, she couldn't help feeling that if she told the brothers that which she kept from John they would understand. Not only that, but for the first time in a long time she was looking forward to staying and hunting with some one else. But, enough with that, where were her vials for the lighter fluid?

Finding everything she needed, Cate left the attic with her supplies and made her way down to the second floor. There she found Dean struggling with his bow tie.

"Here take this," she said handing him a flask.

"I really don't think getting wasted is going to help me with this stupid thing," he said giving up on trying tying 'the stupid thing.'

"That is lighter fluid because you can't exactly bring your duffle bag to an opera," explained Cate. "And let me help you with that." Taking the bow tie she quickly tied it and with one last adjustment stepped out of the way so Dean could look in the mirror.

"I'll tell you one thing: James Bond has nothing on me," said Dean, striking a pose.

"You wish," responded Sam, entering the hallway. "And you look great, Cate," he said after seeing her. She was wearing a deep blue, strapless ball gown, which flared at the waist so that the skirt was rather large, with sparkling diamond earrings and her hair was twisted into a sleek up-do. The overall effect was that of supreme elegance.

"Thank you. You don't look half bad yourself," replied Cate. She then handed another flask to Sam and explained what it was; she then began to go over the game plan for the night: "This is pretty basic because we can't exactly march in with shotguns and ask everyone to leave because the place is haunted. We can bring in whatever our clothes can hide. I'm ready, what about the two of you?"

The boys revealed the hand guns they had hidden at the small of their backs, the packs of salt, Dean's lighter and, of course, the flasks of lighter fluid Cate had given them. Satisfied Cate led the way down stairs and out to the garage, where a Lincoln town car had been cleaned and was waiting for them.

"What we aren't taking my car?" questioned Dean, bewildered.

"Not appropriate for the event," responded Cate simply, "But if it makes you feel any better you can drive."

Dean begrudgingly accepted to drive and a short while later they pulled up outside the theatre and the valet took their car. They had planned to arrive five minutes before curtain so they wouldn't have to mill around outside with all the high society snobs and they were right on time. They quickly made their way to the box and as soon as the house lights went down they jumped into action.

They quickly left the box and headed down the stairs toward the basement, which seemed like a logical place to start looking for a hidden body. At the base of the stairs Cate stopped and quickly removed the bottom half of her dress to reveal a pair of short shorts, two guns holstered at her hips and a hunting knife strapped to her waist. She the removed three small flashlights from her hand bag and stashed all her stuff under the stairs. She handed a flashlight to each of the boys and they made their way toward the door marked "Storage". Dean tried the handle, but in typical fashion it was locked. Cate quickly stepped forward and removed a bobby pin from her hair; using it she quickly unlocked the door.

"Whoa," said Dean entering the room. It was filled with statues, backdrops and other props and items needed for a play. Not only that, but the room was huge. It covered the entire bottom level of the theatre. "This could take a while. Finding a body down here is like finding a needle in a hay stack."

"Well, we don't have a while, so start looking. Shout if you find anything or need help," said Cate. She broke off from the group and turned to the right. Dean went straight ahead and Sam took the right.

Half an hour later no one had found the body. Suddenly Dean's flashlight flickered and went out.

"Leave it to Cate to give me the one flashlight with dying batteries," scoffed Dean, pulling out his lighter.

Across the room Cate saw Dean's light go out. Knowing that the flashlight and the batteries were brand new she swore softly under her breath: "Shit, the ghost."

Just as she started to make her way towards Dean she heard a loud bang and saw some props fall to the ground. At this she took off at a run. When she first saw Dean he was pinned against a support column, a ghostly figure of a young woman in front of him. The ghost was saying something but Cate could barely make it out: something about 'you killed me' and 'now I will make you pay.' Grabbing her gun, Cate shot a blessed bullet through the spirit which caused it to temporarily disappear.

"She'll be back let's get back to looking for the body," said Cate, her voice betraying none of her earlier worry.

"No need to," coughed Dean, pointing at the body which had been revealed when the spirit had thrown Dean through the air.

They quickly set to work dousing the body in salt and lighter fluid and just as Dean was about to drop his lighter the ghost reappeared and through him some 20 feet back against the wall.

"Dean!" yelled Cate and grabbed the lighter dropping it on the body. Hearing only the ghost's shrieks to know that her job was done, Cate ran towards Dean's still body. She dropped to her knees by him; she took his head in her hands and placed it on her knees.

"Come on Dean, be alright. You can't be killed by the ghost of some pissed-off actress," she pleaded.

Just then Sam arrived and surveying the scene noticed the still burning body and Cate cradling Dean's head.

"Oh, no," whispered Sam.

Just then Dean weakly opened his eyes and in a faint voice said to Cate: "See, I knew you liked me."


	4. Chapter 4

As a disclaimer for the whole series: I own nothing seen on the tv show, or anything else that you may find in other sources such as towns and songs.

**Chapter 10**

Cate stared down at the dusty and slightly bloody Dean and laughed: "You, Mr. Winchester are so full of yourself. Did you ever stop to consider that maybe I don't want to have to drag your body out of hear or that I don't want to tell your dad that you got yourself killed." At this Dean looked slightly hurt. "Of course I like you, stupid, why would I have stuck with you if I didn't? We better get out of here some one might have heard something. We need to get you home and cleaned up. Come on, Sam; give me a hand with him."

Helping Dean up, Sam followed Cate back towards the door. Once outside Cate replaced her skirt and headed up the stairs. The got out of the building and all the way back to the house without incident.

"Take him to the library," directed Cate. "I'll get the first-aid kit."

When Cate reached the library she found Dean sitting in a chair around the large central table. She strode forward and took a seat beside him, placing the first–aid kit on the table. She opened it and started to clean the cut just below Dean's hairline.

"Ow," exclaimed Dean when the peroxide came into contact with his head.

"Sorry about that but there is nothing I can do. This needs to be cleaned," Cate apologized.

"There, it is done," stated Cate a few minutes later. "So, you thought I didn't like you?"

"Well, yeah you were kind of a …" started Dean, but he was interrupted by the phone.

"Hold that thought," said Cate as she got up and answered the phone.

"Hello, John," she said in an even, unwavering voice. "What is it that you want now?"

The brothers raised their heads and looked towards Cate as she said this. The looks on their faces betrayed anger, jealousy and resentment as well as half a dozen other emotions that Cate couldn't place. After a brief silence Cate said "I know your boys know about me because they are sitting not ten feet from me. Maybe you would like to talk to them and explain why exactly they know nothing about me and I know their life stories."

With that she put John on speaker-phone so that he could address the group as a whole. Both of the boys looked rather uneasy and awaited their father's explanation.

"Cate," John's voice crackled across the phone, "If I am going to tell them everything I need you to leave. This is a family matter."

If Cate was hurt by this comment she didn't show it, she merely agreed and left the room, telling the boys they could find her in the kitchen when they were done. When she was out of the room Dean started: "Why didn't you tell us about her? You've known her for twenty years, not a mention. She knows everything about us, our lives, some of our hunts and all of yours. Why is she a mystery to us?"

"Boys, you have to know that I made a mistake in not telling you," his weary voice echoed in the big room. "I always meant to, it was going to be when she was sixteen and you and Sam were 18 and 14. I thought that by that point in time the both of you would be old enough to accept the truth, but then her dad died and things became complicated. She took on her father's role and started hunting, by the time she was sixteen it didn't seem fair to add researching and recording for you, Dean, to her list of things to contend with on top of school. After she finished high school, I didn't want her to give up college, so I put it off again and it has been one excuse after another since then. I know it isn't fair but I wanted to do as her father asked and protect her."

"So, you let her go to college and then get mad at me when I want to. How is that fair?" shouted Sam.

"It isn't, but it is what her dad wanted and I made him a promise," responded John with a heavy sigh.

"What do you mean 'recording for me'" asked Dean in a surprisingly calm voice.

"She was supposed to be your chronicler, Dean. Record all of your jobs help you out with stuff and carry on her family business," answered John.

"Are you serious?" Dean asked puzzled.

"Of course I am. One last thing, watch out for Cate. Protect her and for God's sake Dean, do not, I repeat not, make her another notch on your bed post. Now, I have to go, don't try and find me," said John.

"No, Dad, don't you do this to us again. We can help: the demon is to strong for you on your own," Sam pleaded.

"I can't risk you getting hurt. Good-bye," and with that John hung up the phone.

Dean slammed his fist on the table and shoved some of the papers on it to the floor.

"How can he do this to us again?" questioned Sam. "How?"

"Because he thinks he is protecting us," answered Dean. "Did you know about the whole Cate and me thing, because you didn't seem all that surprised when Dad mentioned it?"

"Yeah, she told me, but I didn't know how to tell you. It's not exactly easy to tell some one that there was a plan for their life that they didn't know about," answered Sam.

"Yeah, I guess," sighed Dean, "Lets go find my betrothed then, and figure out what we are going to do."

"And this is why she didn't tell you herself," grinned Sam.

**Chapter 11**

Three months had passed since Cate first met the Winchester brothers and they were still traveling and hunting together. It had been good for her. Cate laughed more readily and was happier than she had in a long time. Sure, it was dangerous and she had nearly gotten killed a couple of times, but it didn't seem so serious when she was with Sam and Dean. Sam was sweet, while Dean treated her like one of the guys, but tried to look out for her and not just with the things that go bump in the night. When guys would bug her in bars they would be there, even if Dean was about to score the bartender's number, to tell the guys to back off and that was just one of the things they did. It was nice having them around to laugh as well as hunt with. Cate was thinking this as they pulled into a gas station for a pit stop.

"Okay, I'll get the munchies," offered Dean as he got out of the car, "Try not to miss me while I'm gone."

"I think we'll manage," replied Cate. "So, have you found us another gig yet?" she asked of Sam who was shuffling through local papers looking for mysterious deaths.

"No. Why can't you and Dean just relax and take some time off? Maybe you would be less wired, more relaxed," said Sam and then murmured under his breath: "Less addicted to coffee."

"Hey!" exclaimed Cate punching him lightly on the arm, "I know how to relax, you just aren't up for it," she said with a mischievous smile, "And my coffee drinking has nothing to do with my profession. I happen to like the taste."

"What do like the taste of?" asked Dean returning with provisions and fueling the car.

"Coffee. Sam was just saying that you and I don't know how to relax and that we drink to much coffee," answered Cate.

"I know how to relax, Sammy. Cate just isn't up for it," said Dean grinning.

"You two are peas in a pod, birds of a feather," sighed Sam.

Dean gave him a quizzical look but then got in the car and asked, "So, where to now geek-boy?"

"I have nothing, not one strange death or occurrence within five hundred square miles. We have nothing to go on. Why can't we just give this up and look for Dad?" demanded Sam growing impatient.

"Because there are always people who need to be saved and demons to hunt and ghosts to get rid of. Besides, your dad isn't anywhere near finding the demon again, there is still plenty of time to join his hunt," explained Cate.

"What? How do you know this?" asked Sam.

"The Colt – the lovely, little weapon that it is – needs special bullets and since you decided to fire off a few rounds and not kill the demon, your dad will need to reload it. The only one with the money and resources to acquire those bullets is me. Since, he hasn't contacted me I know that he hasn't come close to finding it," answered Cate, "And know this, Sam, when he does call for the bullets I will let you know and then we will find your dad."

"Well, that was kind of awkward. Let's say we put this behind us and go find a place to stay in this town," interjected Dean before Sam could say anything else.

Later, at the motel, the trio of hunters was sitting in the room the boys shared each searching for something to tip them off as to their next job, each coming up with nothing. It seemed that time had slowed to an almost unbearably slow pace as the computer keys clicked and the papers were shuffled.

"Okay, that is it. I can't find anything on the internet about suspicious deaths or disappearances, which means that if they are happening some one is leaving out all the interesting details," exclaimed Cate, "time to resort to the old stand by."

"And what would that be?" asked Dean.

"People who actually call for help," answered Cate. With that she took out her phone and started dialing.

"What are you doing?" inquired Sam.

"Checking your dad's voice-mail occasionally there are some real problems that people call with more often then not, though, it is just paranoia," replied Cate.

"Wait you check, our dad's voice mail. How long have you been doing this?" demanded Dean, a certain amount of panic entering his voice.

"Since your dad left you to hunt for the demon, the first time that is. He asked me to field his calls and any urgent ones he had sent to you. I looked over the rest and decided if they were worth investigating. Recently there haven't been any that sound particularly promising, so I just let them go," explained Cate.

"So you've heard all of the messages?" pressed Dean.

"Yes, anything important or relating to the demon I sent on to your father," responded Cate.

"Cate, can I talk to you alone in your room," asked Dean, glancing quickly at Sam.

Sam, of course, was told that Cate had been able to contact John by Dean when he found out. While he accepted what his father had done, it was a sore spot in his relationship with Cate. He understood that his father had to keep his promise but he still didn't know why the eldest Winchester did not leave contact information with him or Dean. All of these memories raced through his head as Cate and Dean left the room.

Dean led Cate into her room next door to the boys – this was how they stayed all the time, two separate rooms – once inside he turned on her with a look somewhere between anger and pain on his face.

"You've heard every message, all of them! How could you hear us asking for help and not send them on to Dad? That's why he never came isn't it; it's all your fault. All those messages I left begging and pleading you heard them, not him," Dean shouted.

"I sent all of those messages on to your dad, I forwarded them. He was the one who chose not to go to you. I had nothing to do with that. He heard every word you said," replied Cate in a surprisingly calm voice.

"And what gives you the right to listen to them anyway? They were personnel, even Sammy doesn't know about all the calls I made," continued Dean.

Cate finally snapped at Dean after he continued to yell and make ludicrous accusations: "You know what? It isn't my fault that your dad never called you or came and helped you, so stop yelling at me."

With that a switch seemed to turn in Dean's head and he stopped yelling at Cate. An apologetic look crossed his face and he said: "I know, its just hard to learn that some one was listening in on something you thought was private. Just don't tell Sammy."

"If you yelled any louder I wouldn't have to and I know it's hard with me in your life. It can't be easy learning your dad had another life and I'm sorry for everything," said Cate with genuine sincerity.

"It's not your fault, so don't apologize," said Dean. "I guess I'll leave you for tonight, it's late and we can pick up where we left off tomorrow."

Sam awoke with a start, a vision of Jessica burning still floated in front of his eyes, the image permanently engraved in his mind. He looked over at the glowing numbers of the motel's clock. It was 5:21 am, what a time to wake up. After tossing and turning for a few minutes Sam gave up trying to fall back asleep and got up. He pulled on a pair of sweat pants, a t-shirt and a hoodie. He then made his way to the door, trying to not make a sound for fear of waking Dean, and then stepped outside the room. He didn't really know what he was doing; all he knew was that he had to get out in the open air. He was looking out over the parking lot, which was brightly lit by the full moon, when he heard a door open and close behind him. He spun around to find Cate exiting her room, dressed in the same fashion as Sam, except with a flashlight strapped to her wrist and a bottle of water attached to her hip.

"What are you doing up so early Sam?" Cate asked upon spotting him.

"Couldn't sleep, what about you?" replied Sam.

"Same, so I thought I might go for a run and check out the woods behind this place. You can come if you want to, it's better than standing around in the dark," offered Cate.

"I guess I could try it," replied Sam.

"Well then come on," said Cate a smile visible on her lips even in the dim light.

With that she turned and headed around the back of the building to the edge of the forest. Once there she flicked on her flash light and, with one look at Sam, took off into the trees. Sam started after her and was surprised to find that when she said she was going for a run she meant it. She was not jogging but truly running through the trees twisting and turning, looking back only to see that Sam was still with her. She ran with grace and endurance that he could not believe: she only stopped when she noticed that Sam was getting winded and could barely keep up any more.

"Here you go," said Cate, handing Sam her water, a little out of breath.

"Thanks," panted Sam.

"We can take it slow for a little while," suggested Cate and the two of them started walking towards a river they had spotted through the trees.

They reached the river and Cate sat down on one of the large rocks lining the shore. She motioned to Sam to take a seat next to her and they sat in comfortable silence for awhile.

Sam was the first one to break the silence by saying, "Shouldn't we be getting back soon? I mean Dean might find us gone and have a hissy fit."

"Just wait a few more minutes," Cate said. "It will be worth it."

Sam was just about to ask what exactly they were waiting for when the sun broke over the horizon and illuminated everything. The water sparkled and danced in front of them, as the trees were starkly silhouetted against the multicolored sky. It was breath-taking and Sam couldn't look away.

"How did you know?" asked Sam in a hushed voice.

"If you were a better out-doors man then you would know the signs of dawn too," responded Cate. The woods were now stirring, coming alive: the birds chirped from the trees and the entire place seemed more alive. "Its so beautiful, but we should be getting back now."

"Do you do this a lot?" asked Sam as he stood up, "go running, that is."

"Every morning before the two of you wake up," answered Cate. Smiling she then said: "It helps clear the mind. It feels like if you just run fast enough the world and all of its problems will fall behind you. It's like you're out running your worries. You can come along any time you want; it is nice to have company."

"Yeah, I think I might like that," stated Sam.

"Okay then, race you back to the motel," she said this and she and Sam bounded off into the woods, each determined to win.

Cate was the first to reach the motel and was quite a ways ahead of Sam. Running to the door of her room she looked back to see if she could spot Sam and unknowingly slammed right into a very angry Dean.

"Where have you been and where is Sammy? Is he okay what are you running from is Sam hurt? Were you coming for help?" demanded Dean, concern for his brother rising.

Cate couldn't help but laugh as she tried to tell Dean what was going on. Being out of breath form the race and laughing made getting the sentence out all that much harder.

"Went for run…raced back… Sam fine… I won," gasped Cate between, bursts of laughter. Dean, however, did not look all that pleased.

"I'm glad you find it so funny," snapped Dean. "I woke up at 6:30 to find the two of you missing! That was a half hour ago! Would it have killed you to leave a note?"

At this moment Sam chose to speed around the corner and slammed into Cate, who was then pushed into Dean and the two of them fell to the ground. Sam burst out laughing and Cate followed suit. Dean merely stood up and walked away saying "I give up."

"Well, I'm going to take a shower, see you I a little bit," said Cate once she had recovered from her fit of laughter.

"Sounds like a good idea, see you," replied Sam heading toward his own room. He thought back to what Cate had said. She was right: running had taken his mind off of everything; all his problems and powers and it had made him forget the nightmare until this very moment. The only thing he had been concentrated on was Cate, herself and trying to keep up with her. It was as if she was the only thing that could help him forget his worries. He decided that he would join her running in the mornings, if not only for his mental health but also his physical.

**Chapter 12**

Cate emerged from the shower and decided to forgo blow-drying her hair, instead opting to towel dry it and put it into a pony-tail. Before meeting with the boys she decided to check the messages so that she might have something to bring to the meeting they were about to have. She picked up her phone and dialed the number. The first few messages were mostly people inquiring as to John's location, but the fifth message alerted Cate to a gig that she new they had to look into. She hurried out her door and banged loudly on that of the Winchesters. Dean quickly answered the door and let her in the room.

"I have a job for us," stated Cate.

"What? Where?" questioned Dean.

"Someone that your dad and I helped out a few years ago called and said that they needed our help. She knows her stuff and if she is calling for help she really needs it,' explained Cate. "She retired to a small town in the north of California."

"What do you mean 'she knows her stuff'?" asked Sam.

"She was a professor of ancient civilizations and cultures and she is way into the supernatural. Your often uses her as a resource if he wants to know anything about Celtic culture and myths: that is her area of expertise,' replied Cate, "Also, her daughter took up hunting and needs help on this one."

"So what is her name, how long have you known her and where is this job?" Dean continued with the interrogation.

"Her name is Molly Johnson, I've known her since I was 15 and the job is in her town." answered Cate. "Three people have turned up dead with the same symbol burned into their bodies and the same cause of death: a stabbed through both eyes. It is too uniform and the symbol just doesn't fit a serial killer. Also, there is no connection between the people except that they all were opposed to the notion of demonic presence and in a public way."

"Well in that case, I think we have ourselves a new job and just in time too, I was going to go crazy with nothing to do," said Dean.

They checked out of the motel and piled into the Impala with Dean driving, Cate riding shotgun and Sam in the back seat. Many hours and coffees later Dean pulled over to the side of the road and decreed that it was to later and foggy to continue driving and that they would have to sleep in the car. Cate and Sam grumbled their displeasure, but agreed that it was best not to drive. They arranged their bodies and drifted to sleep.

The next morning Dean was jolted awake when the car moved suddenly. His first thought was that they were being towed, but then he realized they were miles from the nearest town. He opened his eyes and saw Cate behind the wheel.

"Good morning, sleepy-head. Sorry, about the bump it was unavoidable," Cate greeted him with a smile.

"What time is it?" groggily asked Dean.

"7:30 am. Here's your coffee," she said handing him a cup.

"Why are you driving my car?" demanded Dean.

"You were sleeping, I was awake and I thought that I was in a better condition to drive, consciousness and all that stuff," replied Cate.

"Why didn't you wake me then?" pressed Dean visibly upset that she was behind the wheel of his baby.

"Dean, how happy would you have been if I woke you up at 5:30 in the morning?" Cate asked already knowing the answer.

"You could have gone back to sleep or waited for me to wake up," mumbled Dean sipping his coffee. "Where did you get this anyway?"

"A town a few miles back and this way we have a head start on the day," answered Cate.

"Fine but pull over now I'm driving. I knew I should have slept behind the wheel," ordered Dean, adding his hindsight to the conversation.

"You, who argued that you needed more leg room, I don't think I'm going to give up driving quite yet," said Cate.

"Pull over!" exclaimed Dean, growing frustrated.

"What? Who? Where?" Sam sputtered waking up suddenly.

"I'm driving, your brother is throwing a fit and some where in northern California," answered Cate.

"Oh," responded Sam still not fully awake.

"Now that the two of you are awake lets have some music," said Cate, plugging her MP3 into a tape deck converter and switching it on.

"Oh, no!" exclaimed Dean, "We are not listening to your sappy, girly music."

"First off: do you know what kind of music I listen to. Secondly, if traveling with your dad has taught me one thing it is this: Driver picks the music, shot gun shuts his pie-hole," responded Cate.

"But…" started Dean.

"She has you there," said Sam slowly regaining the ability to process information. "Those are almost the same words you used to tell me the 'house rules'"

Dean's mouth hung open for a moment but then he closed it. The MP3 player finally booted up and "Animal" by Nickelback blasted out of the speakers. Dean looked thoughtful for a moment and then said, "Okay, I accept this."

"Like you had a choice," mumbled Sam from the back seat.

Dean leaned back into his seat and started to listen more intently to the music. When the song reached the second verse an expression, that was a mixture between shock and confusion, spread across his face.

"Do you know the lyrics to this song?" asked Dean, incredulous.

"Yes, it is on my MP3 player," answered Cate. "Why, is Dean scared by the content?"

"No, it just doesn't seem like you," said Dean, adding with a grin "and it gives me ideas."

"Oh, shut up!" laughed Cate and punched Dean lightly on the shoulder.

Hours later they decided to switch drivers and Dean got behind the wheel; he, however, did not change the music instead stating that he could tolerate it.

"Cate, I think you have done the impossible: gotten Dean to listen to music from this century," stated Sam with a wicked grin.

"Sam, do not make me pull this car over and leave your ass standing on the highway," retorted Dean.

"Pay attention! This is the exit," exclaimed Cate redirecting Dean's focus.

Dean to the turn and reduced speed while driving through the city. Cate directed him through the town and was explaining about the Johnson family.

"The first thing you should know is that they are a bit different," said Cate.

"We deal with 'different' everyday," stated Dean.

"Yeah, well, they are sort of hippy-ish," started Cate.

"How so?" asked Sam.

"Well, they celebrate Celtic pagan festivals, it only organic food and they don't believe in having doors in their house, something about creating barriers and trapping negative energy," Cate answered.

"They don't believe in doors?" scoffed Dean. "What about privacy?"

"They have curtains and they are into all that touchyfeely emotional junk. It doesn't work for me, but, hey, if it does for them who can blame them?" replied Cate. "Oh, turn here, it's their drive way."

"Whatever," said Dean.

The car crept up the dirt road that led to the house. When the car pulled up beside the house an older woman appeared on the porch and waved enthusiastically at them. Cate got out of the car and walked toward the slightly ruffled looking woman. She was immediately drawn into a bear hug by the surprising strong woman.

"Cate, it is so good to see you. Your hair is so much longer than the last time I saw you. It has been far too long," beamed the mouse-like woman. "And who are these two young gentlemen?"

"This is Sam and Dean Winchester: they are John's boys," Cate introduced them.

"It is nice to meet you Mrs. Johnson," said Sam.

"Oh, please call me Molly," laughed the woman. "Why don't you three come inside and let me fix you some dinner. You must be starving after your journey."

"Thanks, that would be great," said Dean.

"We must catch up, Cate. I want to here about all your adventures and how you met up with these boys," stated Molly.

"And I want to here about this thing we have come to hunt. I'm sure we can get it all out over one of your delicious meals," replied Cate.

"You really should take some time to think about something other than hunting: all work and no play makes Cate a very boring girl," scolded Molly, in a very motherly tone.

"I have plenty of fun," Cate said defensively.

"Sure you do, honey, whatever you say," Molly teased.

It was all the Winchesters could do to keep from bursting into fits of laughter at the expression on Cate's red face.

**Chapter 13**

The Winchesters were treated to yet another home-cooked meal and information about their dad that he had kept secret. Molly and her husband, Bill, had known John for nearly ten years and were occasionally called on for information. When the meal was over and the dishes were cleared Dean announced that the trio should probably go and find a motel to stay at.

"Oh, no, we can't have you doing that," exclaimed Molly, "You should stay here. We have plenty of extra rooms and they are much nicer than a cheap motel room."

"Thank you, Molly," accepted Cate, "We would love to stay here."

"You can use the room you usually stay in, dear," directed Molly, "I'll put the boys in the twin's old room down the hallway. That is if you don't mind sharing."

"No problem. Thanks for letting us stay," said Sam.

"You can show them where to go, honey and me and the wife will get some sheets for the beds," Bill told Cate.

"Okay," responded Cate and went and grabbed the bags from the car, "This way, boys."

She led them up the stairs and down a hallway toward the back of the house. She stopped at the second door way on the right and dropped her bag, indicating that this was her room. The next room was the one that the Winchester brothers would share. It had two twin beds on either side of a bay window with a window seat.

"This is your room," said Cate, "I'm next door and the first door on the right, coming up the stairs is the bathroom."

"One question, what about privacy? This whole 'no doors' thing is a bit new to me," asked Sam.

"There are curtains," said Cate simply.

At that moment Bill and Molly appeared with sheets and offered to make the beds for the boys. Sam politely declined; Cate then excused herself and went to her room saying that she was going to take a shower. Dean was just starting to settle into reading the information about the victims when he realized Cate had forgotten their dad's journal.

"I'm going to the car to get the journal. I'll be back," stated Dean as he whipped out the door.

He found the journal in the front seat of the Impala and headed back into the house. He headed up the stair and heard the water running for, what he assumed was, Cate's shower. When he turned the corner at the top of the stairs he was distracted by the sound of "Bittersweet" by Apocalyptica, which drifted out of the stereo in the bathroom, and cast a glance towards the bathroom. The curtain was pulled and the room was lit by a single lamp, causing Cate's silhouette to be visible. She was just preparing to get in the shower and Dean was unable to look away as she slowly undressed. He knew it was wrong and rather pervy, but he was compelled to look.

The moment before Cate removed her bra and underwear Sam stuck his head out of the door and headed down the hallway: "Dean, what took you so long and what are you looking at?"

"Nothing that would interest you," quipped Dean, suddenly very embarrassed.

Sam reached Dean and looked in the direction that he had just been staring. A look of shock crossed Sam's face and he said, "Dean, you…" But he couldn't find the right thing to say.

"Like I said Sammy, nothing you'd be interested in," replied Dean and he walked back to the room.

Sam finally found the words: "Dean you know what dad told you about her - well, her and you – and you can't…"

But he was cut off by Dean: "I can look can't I? I just can't touch. Anyway it's not like I meant to; the music caught my attention and well she held it. I stopped thinking with the upstairs brain for a minute. You wouldn't understand: you can't turn yours off. Now go to bed."

With that Dean turned off the lights, stripped down to a t-shirt and boxers and got into his bed. Sam followed suit and soon both men were lost in their own thoughts. Dean couldn't shake off the recent events. He couldn't help but thinking about what he had seen earlier: how gorgeous Cate was and how toned her body was. Not only was she just hot in the physical sense, but she, also, understood the world he lived in. That was weird, never in the past had he really considered whether or not some one understood him. Well, maybe with Cassie, but even then not in any seriousness, she would never really understand, tolerate yes, but understand no. It was probably just that he hadn't gotten laid in a while and he was hanging around Sam to much, he decided shaking off the thought and rolling over, sleep slowly taking him.

However, sleep did not come so easily to Sam. He lay awake thinking about Cate: how beautiful she was, how she, unlike Dean, didn't treat him like he was ten and how he was secretly and guiltily jealous of Dean for what he saw. He wondered if it was betraying Jess' memory to be falling for Cate and he wondered exactly what Cate felt for him. That was the big question, wasn't it: what did Cate feel for the Winchester brothers? He knew that she liked him, but on what level? And what did she feel for Dean? It seemed that they were always bickering, but she had said that she did like Dean. Did she want Sam in a romantic way? Hell, did she want anyone in a romantic way or did she already have some one? Sam realized that in all the time he had known her, about three months, he had never once asked if she was single. She never mentioned a boyfriend, but she often made private phone calls and Sam had no idea who she was calling. As these thoughts flowed through his mind Sam drifted into an uneasy sleep.

**Chapter 14 **

Sam awoke the next morning felling guilty about the dream he had just had and even guiltier that he wished it was a vision. He quickly dressed and headed downstairs. He spotted Cate outside on the deck preparing to go for her run. He ducked outside through the screen door and walked up beside her.

"Do you mind if I join you?" asked Sam.

"Sure, that would be nice," replied Cate, "I was thinking of running to a small lake just on the other side of that patch of trees, you in?" she asked pointing across a large field towards a group of trees.

"Let's go," said Sam and he started jogging toward the trees. Cate quickly caught up to him and they continued in silence for awhile until they reached the woods.

"You should follow me from here on in. I know the way and we don't want you getting lost," stated Cate.

"Sure thing," panted Sam, a bit out of breath.

As they ran through the small forest Sam noted that this seemed to be where Cate was most comfortable. She ducked and jumped and swerved with ease to avoid branches, trees and rocks. It was like she belonged here: a wild thing of nature; lithe and agile; like a wolf with never-ending endurance. He couldn't help but smile at the comparison, it was so apt. She was a hunter: calculated and precise, swift and intelligent. His thoughts were interrupted, however, when he clipped his foot on the top of a root and was sent tumbling. Cate rushed to his side to help him up.

"Are you okay?" asked Cate concerned.

"Sure, nothing hurt but my pride," sighed Sam.

"Well, if it makes you feel any better it was a very graceful fall," laughed Cate, smiling widely.

"Shut up and 'lay on Macduff,'" quoted Sam.

"You want to fight now? Bring it pretty boy," challenged Cate.

With that Cate took off running, Sam close on her heels. They ran with Cate in the lead for several minutes, suddenly she slowed and Sam pulled into they lead.

Looking back over his shoulder Sam shouted, "I guess I'll win this race!"

He saw Cate had stopped running, she was grinning and Sam was confused as to why. She shouted to Sam, "It's not always about who is in front."

Just then Sam looked forward again and realized that there was a cliff ahead of him. He was to close and wasn't able to stop in time. He ran right off the edge. He let out a scream and then he hit the cold water bellow. He surfaced and looked up to see Cate peering or the edge of the ten foot drop.

"I see you found the lake," laughed Cate.

"Very funny," replied Sam dryly, and started to swim with the current from the small waterfall towards the shore on the opposite side of the lake. Suddenly there was a loud splash beside him and he found his head being hit with a wall of water. Cate's head bobbed up out of the water.

"Swimming seems like a good idea. I'm glad you thought of it," said Cate smiling.

"You are impossible," laughed Sam and he splashed her. She splashed back and a small water fight ensued.

When Cate surrendered she said: "Come on, follow me." She started to swim towards the waterfall and hesitantly Sam swam after her. She pulled herself up on to a rock ledge and sat there, for the first time Sam noticed that she had ditched her clothes and was only wearing a bra and her panties. Looking quickly away to hide his blushing face, Sam pulled himself up beside her. Cate through back her head and let the water rush over her.

She leaned forward and said: "The first time I met Molly she brought me here and said to scream into the air as the water rushed over me and that the water would wash away all my frustrations and carry them downstream away from me. I thought it was ridiculous, but you know what? It actually works. Want to try?"

"Why not?" responded Sam.

"Okay. 1, 2, 3," and with that they screamed. They screamed until they couldn't anymore. When they stopped Cate looked over at Sam and said, "Did it help?"

"Yeah, thanks for this. It's good to get out and running with you is really great," said Sam.

"And if you continue doing it with me you may be able to keep up some day," teased Cate.

After that they swam some more and then jogged back to the house – Sam soaking wet.

They reached they driveway and found Dean waiting for them. "Jeeze Sammy, you must have some kind of disorder if you're sweating like that after a run."

"We went swimming," grumbled Sam, "And it is Sam, not Sammy."

"Well then why doesn't Cate look so bad?" asked Dean. "She is only a little damp."

"Sam ran of a cliff into the lake. I got the chance to strip down before jumping in," answered Cate shooting Sam a playful smile.

"Well, I miss all the fun, don't I?" said Dean. "Now that the two of you are back, I suggest that you get changed and we take a look at the information Molly got us. Molly and Bill said that they were going to town and that they wouldn't be back until tonight. Also, you said something about a hunter daughter: where is she?"

"When I said hunter I may have mislead you. She is less about hunting and more about helping spirits move on and exorcising demons. Molly told me last night that when she heard we were coming she left on another job because she couldn't handle this one."

With that out of the way Cate and Sam went upstairs to get dried off and change. They returned downstairs to find that Dean had set himself up in the kitchen with papers spread across the table and the laptop open. The three of them settled in and started to work. After about an hour Cate, who was working on finding what the symbol that was burned on the victims, was, let out a growl of frustration.

"The symbol seems so familiar, I just can't place it!" Cate exclaimed. She glanced up at the clock but then noticed the symbols painted on the wall next to it. One in particular caught her eye. "That's it! I knew it was familiar!"

"What are you talking about?" demanded Dean.

"I'll show you" Cate quickly brought up a scan of the symbol. Using a photo editing program she separated the symbol into two different ones. "The one on the right is the Celtic symbol for truth. It is two symbols superimposed on each other, which is why it looked so familiar."

"Wow, I can't believe you noticed that," said Sam slightly in awe. "I never would have noticed."

"Well, seeing the symbol on the wall helped a little," Cate replied.

"What is the other symbol?" asked Dean.

"I'm not sure but I think I might have an idea. Give me a second to see if I'm right," responded Cate, searching the Internet. "Just as I thought, the other is a symbol for lies or deception.

Dean stated the obvious, "So, we're dealing in truth and lies."

"Yeah, remind you of some one," Cate smirked. **Chapter 15**

"Hey! I resent that remark," grumbled Dean.

"Dean, you deal in half truths, you never seem to be able to tell the whole truth to anyone," said Cate, "Truth and lies.

"Moving on," said Sam, "What does this tell us about the thing we are hunting?"

"First off, I think it tells us that they are things, not a single one and secondly I think we are dealing with a pair of demons," stated Cate.

"Why do you say that?" asked Dean.

"There is an old Celtic myth about twin daughters of a mage cursed so that one can only speak the truth and the other only lies," explained Cate. "I never thought it would be real, but the symbols make me think otherwise."

"So, we are dealing with a pair of demons, but why are they killing people?" pondered Sam. "Three women are dead and we don't know why.

"Well. That is the rest of the legend: the girls' father fell in love with a powerful woman after their mother died and married her. The woman made the twin's lives a living hell and caused them to be pitted against each other to win their father's affection. When their father died they left home and swore that they would seek revenge on the woman and those who can between siblings. So you see, I'm thinking that these three women might have something shady in their pasts involving a family," replied Cate.

"Okay then, time to go talk to the next of kin. What do you think this time: the feds or local?" suggested Dean.

A half an hour later the Impala pulled up outside a well manicured house on a plain street in a stereotypical suburban neighborhood. The three hunters got out of the car and glanced up and down the street.

Cate whistled and remarked, "Man, I would hate to live here."

"Why's that?" asked Sam.

"A cookie cutter street in suburbia, how boring? This place was built to house the ever growing middle-class: every house the same, no individuality, all built to the mold of what the powers that be think the 'American dream' is. Not interested," scoffed Cate.

"Maybe some people want that nice, normal American lifestyle," retorted Sam defensively.

"Sam, the image that this place projects and the 'American dream' are not normal, they are anomalies, aberrations in a world that will never live up to that perfect image," emphasized Cate.

"Well that is a very pessimistic attitude," grumbled Sam.

"No, it is realistic," answered Cate.

"Whatever," mumbled Sam.

"If the two of you are just about done, we have a family to interview. Okay, so the first woman was a mother of two, still happily married, lived here with a dog and a cat and was a stay at home mother," listed Dean going over the information.

"Normal," muttered Sam.

"The daughter is thirteen, the son is seventeen: I'll talk to the husband and the two of you can split the children between the two of you."

"Fine, I'll take the daughter since I can remember what it was like to be that age."

"So that leaves me with the son," breathed Sam.

They walked up and knocked on the door. After showing some I.D. they were admitted and went their separate ways to talk to the different members of the family. The girl was in the back yard picking flowers when Cate approached her.

"Hi Julie, my name is Cate and I'm investigating your mother's death," explained Cate in a calming voice. "What are you doing?"

"Picking flowers for my mother's grave," explained the sullen girl.

"Do you do that often?" asked Cate.

"Yup, I visit every day. Now what is it that you want?" demanded Julie.

"I just wanted to ask you a few questions about your mother," stated Cate. "If you don't mind I'll just start asking: was there anyone different in your mother's life just before her death, some one strange?"

"The only new person I've met recently who knew my mother was my uncle Ted. I met him when I was visiting her grave," revealed the girl.

"What do you mean? Did you just meet your uncle? Why hadn't you before now?" pressed Cate.

"He and my dad don't talk anymore. Dad says that it's none of my business, but Uncle Ted says it's because he loved Mom, but then Dad stole her from him and he won't talk to Dad."

"Oh, thank you very much Julie. I may be back later, but I think I have what I need for now."

"Please don't tell my dad that I talked to Uncle Ted. He doesn't know and I don't think he would approve. I want to know my uncle," pleaded the girl.

"Don't worry, I won't. Thank you very much," reassured Cate.

She collected the boys from their own interrogations and they hastily left the house. They were back in the car before Cate reported what she had found out.

"So, the mother left the brother for her husband. Isn't this just like a soap-opera," smirked Dean.

"So, much for perfectly normal," commented Cate, shooting a look at Sam.

"I think we found the motivation here, now let's check with the rest of the families"

Five hours later, as they left the final home, they confirmed the motivations for the murders.

"Victim one pitted two brothers against each other for her love, victim two caused a rift between her mother and her sister and victim three made her children compete for her love," listed Cate. "We have are reasons now we just need to find our killers."

The car ride to the house was made in stony silence, each person lost in their own thoughts. When they reached the house Dean was the first to break the silence.

"The demons must be possessing people for the bodies to commit the actual crimes with, so now we have to find them," said Dean. "I'm guessing we are probably looking for sisters who are young and healthy."

"I'll search the local missing person's reports," offered Sam.

"You do that and I'll go get some food," said Cate, as she for the door.

"Hey, Dean," said Sam after Cate left, "You don't think anything could come between us like those families today?"

"Nah man," replied Dean, "We've faced to much together to let anything come between us."

"Yeah, I was just thinking how much it would suck not having you there after everything. I mean, when I went to college we didn't really talk and now I can't imagine not having you there."

"Sammy, this is fast becoming a chick-flick moment."

"You know, whatever, jerk, I try and say something nice, but you go and mess it up," mumbled Sam.

They fell into silence. After a few minutes Dean quietly said, "I know what you mean Sam," and it was left at that.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 16**

Cate returned with the food to find that Sam had identified a pair of twins who had gone missing around the time of the first murder. They decided that they would check out the home of the missing twins the next day and then split up to go sleep. Dean awoke the next morning to find both Sam and Cate gone. He figured that they had gone running again and got in the shower. Just as he turned off the hot water he heard two people walking in the hallway: assuming that it was Cate and Sam, Dean wrapped a towel around his waist and stepped into the hallway. He was, however, greeted by two young blond women matching the description from the missing person's ad. The women looked and dressed identically except for the pendants they wore around their necks: on the symbol of truth the other the symbol of lies.

"Oh shit," exclaimed Dean as the woman one the right swung a heavy 2x4 and knocked him unconscious.

He awoke, with a splitting pain in his head and dried blood on his face, to find himself in the basement tied to a pillar and unable to move. The ropes that bound him cut painfully into his skin and he was fighting to stay conscious. That wasn't all though, he felt different, but he wasn't able to place why exactly he felt this way. He found that he had been dressed in a pair of pants, but that was all. Looking up, as his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he saw Sam tied in a similar fashion to a pillar directly across from him and Cate tied to one further down the large room. He noticed that they too were just waking up.

Suddenly the twins appeared in front of their three prisoners with looks of pure mischief plastered across their faces. When they spoke it seemed not to be two individuals talking but one being. It was nearly impossible for the tree captives, in their currant state, to tell which twin said what.

"Welcome to our humble abode. It has been so long since we had this many guests. Of course now that we have you hear we can have some fun. Yes, it has been so boring with one person at a time," said the twins, trading of sentences. Turning to Cate they said, "It is time for you to be punished and the men you broke apart will be the ones punishing you."

"What do you mean, you psychotic bitches? The Winchester boys are as close as ever and I certainly haven't broken them apart," snapped Cate.

One of the sisters slapped Cate, "Lies, you may not have yet but we can see what will happen and we are here to make sure it doesn't. And have a little fun at the same time. Since it is true that you haven't done anything yet we will give you a chance: You may free one of the brothers and try to escape, but be warned we have each cast a spell over the brothers: one may only tell the truth, while the other only lies. The one who tells only lies will try and kill you if you release him. You may ask one question to determine which tells the truth and which speaks only in lies. The two of you are then free to go."

The sisters then cut Cate loose and moved to stand on the other side of the room. Cate quickly formulated a plan to free one of the brothers then come back for the other and kill the stupid demons.

"Okay, I have my question," she said and then turned to the brothers, "If I asked your brother which one of you to free to not be killed who would he say?"

Both of the boys immediately answered "Sam."

Hearing this Cate moved toward Dean and cut him loose. Dean slumped forward into Cate's arms and murmured "Thank you."

Cate looked up at the sisters who laughed and then said: "Did we say you would be free to go? Well, we lied; however, to be sporting we will give you a ten minute head start before letting poor Sam here go."

Panic rose in Cate and she struggled to get Dean to his feet. They made their way as quickly as they could out of the basement and into the street. They found themselves in a neighborhood that closely resembled the one that the first victim lived in. Cate noticed a car parked on the curb and made her way toward it.

"Thank God for trusting suburban dwellers," she muttered when she found that it was unlocked. She deposited Dean in the front seat and quickly hot-wired the car. She drove quickly to Molly's house, grabbed their stuff from their rooms and transferred Dean to the Impala. She then sped off, destination unknown. It wasn't until an hour later and a town away that Cate stopped. Dean had passed out in the front seat and Cate looked over at him. She saw the angry red lines where the ropes had cut into his chest: absent-mindedly she reached out and lightly ran her fingers over the marks.

"Hey, that hurts," coughed Dean, waking up. "Where are we?"

"About an hour away from that hell house in the next town over," sighed Cate wearily.

"What you left Sam?" exclaimed Dean. "We have to go back for him."

"We will after we have time to form a plan and figure out a way to rescue him," explained Cate. "And what about this speaking the truth thing, is the spell still affecting you?"

"I don't know," replied Dean.

"Well then tell me a lie," demanded Cate.

"I don't want to sleep with…" finishing the sentence seemed to be of great difficulty to Dean until he spat out "Sam. Not what I wanted to say, but that is the truth."

"Got it, you can only speak the truth or at least what you think is the truth," confirmed Cate. "What was it that you were going to say, by the way?"

"You," said Dean with a small laugh.

Cate rolled her eyes and then said, "I know one thing that is true: you are a horny little bastard."

"Hey!" started Dean, but irrupted into a fit of coughing.

"We had better find a motel and figure out what to do."

Dean offered no objection and Cate drove into the town. She found a suitably cheap motel and got them a room not thinking to ask for one with two beds. She helped Dean into the room and he took a seat on the one bed.

"Looks we'll be spooning tonight," said Dean with a sly grin.

"No, you take the bed, I'll take the couch," replied Cate.

Looking a bit crest fallen Dean said, "Fine. Now let's figure out what we are going to do about the stupid demons."

"Did you notice the pendants around the hosts' necks?" asked Cate.

"Yeah, why? Are they important?" demanded Dean,

"I think they are what are allowing the demons to possess the bodies. So, if we can get them off of the girls' necks and destroy them we can destroy demons," explained Cate.

"Okay then, what do we do now?" inquired Dean.

"Now we prepare and tomorrow we attack, but we have to remember that they have Sam under their control and could pose a threat," reminded Cate.

"No, Sam would never hurt me," stated Dean.

"Sam is not himself, remember," said Cate.

"Yeah, but I can only speak the truth and I just said that so it must be true," argued Dean.

"No, you can only say what you think is true and you believe that to be true," Cate explained in a calm voice.

The truth washed over Dean and seemed to physically sink under its weight. Sam, his baby brother, was now the enemy. His despair must have shown in his face because Cate said: "Don't worry Dean, we kill these bitches and Sam returns to normal."

"Yeah, I hope so."

With that the two hunters fell into preparations that took up the remainder of their day. As Dean wearily fell into the bed that night he wondered what Sam was doing and if Cate was really right, because if not he would never see his brother again.

"Goodnight," said Cate from the couch.

"Goodnight," responded Dean falling into a troubled sleep.

**Chapter 17 **

Dean was awoken in the middle of the night by Cate tossing and turning in her sleep. She was mumbling and sounded a lot like Sam when he had one of his nightmares. Suddenly, Cate jerked awake and looked over at Dean, who was sitting up watching her. She looked a mess: her hair was tousled, she had dark circles under her eyes that were visible in the low light and she was out in a cold sweat.

"Are you alright?" asked Dean.

"Yeah, just a bad dream, nothing to worry about," answered Cate, her voice as rough as she looked.

"Now that's where you are wrong: I always worry about bad dreams. I do travel with vision boy you know."

"Well this was just a memory, so you have nothing to worry about," said Cate, "And I don't have visions."

"Am I not allowed to be concerned?" demanded Dean, joking.

"No, quite frankly, you are not," replied Cate in all seriousness.

"And why would that be?" asked Dean.

"Because if you are worrying about me you can not concentrate on the task at hand: killing demons. Now go back to sleep."

"Whatever," said Dean as he closed his eyes and went back to sleep.

Cate woke up early the next morning after a restless sleep. She quietly and quickly showered and dressed, so as not to wake Dean. She looked over the weapons and sighed. Hunting these demons was not going to be as easy as all the rest, this time some one she cared about could very well be the enemy. She had no idea as to how the demons were going to use Sam and she didn't like to think about it. As far as she knew they couldn't control him as they had no control over Dean, but they might be able to influence him. Her train of thoughts was interrupted as Dean moaned and rolled over.

"Morning, what time is it?" asked Dean groggily.

"About 7:30," answered Cate. "How are you doing, I mean, where the ropes cut into you and all that?"

"It hurts like a bitch," said Dean.

"Do you want me to check them and see how they are healing," inquired Cate helpfully.

"Not really, I would like to say that I'm okay, but this stupid spell won't let me," sighed Dean.

"It can't be that bad," stated Cate.

"I have to watch every word that I say. Do you know how hard it is to function not even being to tell even the smallest white lies? Well, it sucks," Dean grumbled.

"You tell far too many lies then," commented Cate.

"Maybe you tell too few."

"Whatever," said Cate rolling her eyes.

"We better get going, we have to find those bitches and kill them before anything bad can happen to Sammy," Dean stated as he got up and headed to the shower.

Dean returned from the bathroom dressed and ready to go. Cate and Dean then packed up the weapons and other things they would use to hunt these demons and went out to the Impala. They ate a quick breakfast and then set out on the road back to the town.

"Hey, Dean, can I ask you something?" inquired Cate.

"Sure."

"About what the demon said: is there any truth to the accusation that I'm coming between the two of you? I couldn't stand knowing that I caused some sort of problem with you and Sam."

"Don't worry, we've had a couple disagreements because of you but that was in the beginning and it was more about our Dad and him not telling us about, but you are definitely not 'coming between' us"

"Thanks," murmured Cate, "That's a relief."

"Yeah, well you're off limits anyway for me."

"What?" sputtered Cate.

"Yup, Dad says I'm not allowed to break your heart. Of course he said nothing to Sam making you fair game for him," joked Dean, but of course he was telling the truth.

"And what makes you think that you could break my heart?" asked Cate with a grin.

"Oh, I don't think I could break your heart, you are far too tough, but my dad on the other hand, he seems to think I can," said Dean.

"And why doesn't he think that Sam could break my heart?" inquired Cate, curious.

"Because he knows that A) Sammy is still hung up on Jess, B) Sam isn't the love 'em and leave 'em kind of guy and C) Dad is kind of blind when it comes to Sam," explained Dean.

"Your father is one of the most observant people I know; I doubt that he is blind to what Sam does," argued Cate.

"Well, maybe not blind so much as he lets Sam get away with things," said Dean. "Like when we were kids if Sam did something wrong he would most likely let it slip, but if I messed up, well, there would be hell to pay."

"That doesn't sound fair. I'm sure you're exaggerating," Cate responded, not wanting to believe what she was hearing.

"Nope, I was responsible for Sam as well as myself so I couldn't mess up. It was always Sam who got off easy, who got special treatment," said Dean, his fingers gripped the wheel tighter as he tried not to let any of the pain the memories caused him show.

"I'm sorry for bringing it up," murmured Cate, "Especially when you have to tell me the truth. It isn't fair that you can't lie to me if you don't want me to know about your childhood."

"Hey, don't worry about it. I can always deny it later if I have to," said Dean with a grin.

Shortly after Dean and Cate had finished their conversation the pair arrived at the house from which they had fled the previous day.

"Now remember, Sam is the enemy. Don't believe a word he says because he is lying. If he tries to attack us simply knock him out and we can revive him when we have killed the demons. Got it?" instructed Cate and she waited for Dean to confirm what she had said.

"Yup, let's go," said Dean and grabbed his gun and made sure the rest of his weapons were securely attached to his body. He then signaled Cate and the two of them snuck quickly and quietly behind the house. Looking in a window they noticed that the basement was empty. They then made their way into the house through the back door and quickly cleared the ground floor. Signaling to Cate, Dean led the way upstairs and followed the faint sound of slow, steady breathing to one of the bedrooms. Dean opened the door to find the twins asleep on the large bed that took up most of the room. Dean crept forward and was just about to grab the amulets from around the necks of the possessed girls when their eyes flew open.

"Oh, no you don't," screeched one and lashed out at Dean.

Cate moved to help him but was grabbed from behind by a large, strong arm. She turned her head to find that she was pinned against Sam's chest struggling to get free.

"Hello, Cate," sneered Sam, "Having fun with my brother?"

"Not really," snapped Cate, "Oh and Sam I'm sorry for this." Cate then rammed her elbow into Sam's solar plexus and he released her.

Cate quickly glanced at Dean who had managed to get an amulet from around the neck of one of the twins. Unfortunately this only seemed to infuriate them more and he wasn't fairing so well. He was backing slowly towards the hall where she was fending off Sam.

"You know what? I never liked you or trusted you. My dad is a fool for ever getting you involved with hunting because you will just get yourself and others hurt or killed," panted Sam as he lashed out again.

Cate easily avoided the blow and noticed that Sam was starting to tire: "Now Sam you don't mean that, do you?" said Cate her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Of course I do. You and Dean are nothing but a problem in this world. You help no one by hunting things, all you do is hurt the ones you love," shouted Sam so that Dean could hear it as well, all the while trying to unsuccessfully to hit Cate. "I wish that you and Dean would just leave and I would never see you again because my life would be so much better without the two of you in it."

"You know what your problem is Sam?" said Cate, a wicked grin playing on her lips.

"No, but I would love for you to tell me," panted Sam clearly winded.

"You have no stamina," stated Cate. She whirled around behind him, delivered a sharp kick to the back of his knee, which caused him to fall to the floor. She then delivered another kick to the side of Sam's head causing him to fall unconscious. He crumpled against the wall and Cate quickly turned to see how Dean was fairing and it wasn't all that well.

She quickly removed two small vials of holy water from her pockets and threw them at the sisters. They hit their marks and the twins fell to the ground writhing in pain. Dean swooped in and grabbed the second necklace. He doused them in holy water and then lighter fluid as Cate chanted an exorcism. Just as Cate finished the chant, Dean dropped his lighter onto the amulets and with a flash of light and a final shriek from the girls the amulets turned to dust and blew away. Dean dropped to the floor and shook his head, as if he were trying to clear it.

"Are you okay?" asked Cate as she rushed to Dean's side.

"Yeah, I'm great," said Dean sarcastically.

"Well, at least we know you can lie again," sighed Cate, a look of relief washing over her face.

"What about Sam?" demanded Dean, looking over at his brother's limp body.

"He will be fine. He is just unconscious," answered Cate, "Though I expect he will come to with one hell of a head ache."

"Yes and he will whine like a baby," joked Dean, returning to his old, snarky self.

"Well, there is one upside to it," said Cate, supporting Sam's left side.

"And what is that?" inquired Dean as they carried Sam outside of the house, thinking it best to leave the girls there and have them wake up and return to their normal lives with no knowledge of the supernatural.

"You get to tease Sam that he got his ass kicked by a girl," laughed Cate and she and Dean erupted into uncontrollable laughter.

**Chapter 18**

Sam came into consciousness with a splitting head ache and a dull ache in the back of his knee. He first noticed that it was night and he was in the backseat of the Impala. He sat up slowly and leaned over the front seat to try and see in the gloom where Cate and Dean were. He was greeted with a site that the notion of was completely foreign to Sam: there in the front seat was Dean Winchester with his arm around a girl's waist. Now on its own that wasn't such an odd occurrence however, the girl was Cate and she was fully clothed and Dean's hands were nowhere near anything that could be considered a 'base'.

"Well I'll be damned," whistled Sam.

Cate then awoke with a start and quickly moved out of her position with her head resting on Dean's chest. She looked confused as to how she had wound up there and as to who had spoken. Dean was roused from his slumber by Cate's sudden movement and quickly noticed Sam sitting in the back seat.

"Hey Sam, what are you doing waking us up?" asked Dean groggily, "And are you okay, man? You took a nasty blow to the head on top of all that demon crap."

"Yeah, I'm fine: one hell of a headache though. I didn't know where I was and all I saw was the two of you and well, it was kind of weird," responded Sam unsure of what had happened between the blow to the head and here in the car. "What happened after I was knocked out? I remember everything up to that point, unfortunately and Cate, Dean I'm sorry for what I said I didn't mean any of it."

"I know, it was the demons and anyway it was much more interesting having Dean here only being able to tell the truth. To answer your question: after we got you out of the house we decided that it would be best to skip town. So, we went back to Molly's, got our stuff, said our good-byes and left town. We only got so far before we were too tired to keep driving and then we pulled over and slept," answered Cate. "You've been out for almost twelve hours. I blame the demons influence in combination with the blow to the head. You should have seen Dean, here: barely able to keep his eyes open. Part of the reason we had to stop before we found a motel."

"Hey, you try being a demon's pawn. It takes a lot of energy," objected Dean.

"And the two of you, just now?" asked Sam shyly.

"Well it is just my natural animal magnetism. She fell asleep passenger-side and was drawn to me," boasted Dean.

"You wish, more like your warmth. It is freezing in here for late summer," teased Cate.

"So, nothing happened…" pressed Sam.

"No, Sam, as much as would like to get some action, I'm not going to while my little brother is in the back seat of my car. That and I don't really think there is any chemistry here," stated Dean with a tone of voice that made Sam question whether or not Dean believed the last part of his statement.

"As much as catching up is all fun and games, I'm sure we can do this in the morning when we are all rested. Now go to sleep the two of you," Cate said this as she leaned back against the front seat angling her body away from Dean. In agreement, both of the Winchesters fell back and closed their eyes, sleep claiming them almost instantly.

The next morning the trio arrived at a small deserted diner to eat breakfast and plan their next move. The diner was tiny, dirty and smelled of grease and coffee. It was like so many others that they had frequented on their travels and the food was no better than anywhere else.

"World's best pancakes, my ass. These things taste like sawdust and chews like rubber," complained Dean, dropping his fork to his plate.

"Stop complaining and focus on the task at hand: we need another job," snapped Cate, irritable from lack of sleep. After Sam had woken her and Dean up Cate had been unable to get comfortable and sleep for more than 45 minutes at a time. Her sleep had been plagued with nightmares and memories she would rather forget.

"Cate's right we need to find something to do. We can't just hang around here…" Sam was cut off by Cate's cell phone beeping loudly.

She flipped it open and quickly checked the new text message. She looked at the screen quizzically for a moment and then quickly grabbed a map from Dean's bag. Snatching a small straight edge and a pencil from her bag, she began to trace coordinates on the map.

"What are you doing? What was the message?" demanded Dean.

"It was coordinates, I'm assuming from your dad because who else texts coordinates," answered Cate never looking up from the map. Seconds later she let out a small exclamation of victory and told the boys: "The coordinates are a town in Mississippi called Forest. I wonder what your dad wants us to do there."

"Whatever it is we should check it out," stated Dean with an air of authority.

"Dean, you and I both know that these coordinates are not going to lead us to Dad," said Sam.

"Yeah but Cate already said that Dad will call for more bullets when he gets close to the demon."

"Didn't Dad say that there were only 13 bullets made for the Colt," said Sam a look of realization dawning on his face. He slowly turned to Cate and demanded: "Why then would he call you for bullets?"

"Simple, the whole 13 bullets thing is a myth – you know the lore that builds up around these sorts of things – and anyway over 500 bullets were made and most of them used. It is the gun itself that is special and anything shot out of it would work; however, antique bullets for a Colt revolver are rather hard to come by and are therefore expensive. You can have them made, but, again, that cost more money than your dad has," explained Cate.

"So, that settles it, we do this job and wait for the phone call," said Dean cheerily and he stood up, leaving some money on the table for the waitress. "Are the two of you coming? Mississippi is a long way to walk."

Two days and several states later, the three hunters were sleeping in the last vacant room at a cheap motel or at least two of them were. Cate was sitting up in one of the two beds staring at the clock which glowed 6:59 am. Both the Winchesters were fast asleep, exhausted from the previous day driving, Cate, however was suffering from insomnia. She lay back down and was just about to close her eyes when she heard Dean's cell phone rang.

"Damn it," muttered Cate and she reached over into Dean's discarded pants' pocket and grabbed the phone. "Hello?"

"Sorry, I must have the wrong number I was looking for a guy," apologized the female voice on the other end of the phone.

"Wait, who were you looking for?" asked Cate, wondering if it was for Dean.

"Dean Winchester," said the voice in a doubtful tone.

"You have the right number, he is just asleep, so I answered the phone," explained Cate.

"Oh, I never thought that one of Dean's one night stands would answer his phone."

"One night stand?" questioned Cate slightly offended. "Excuse me but I am the only stable female presence in Dean's life at the moment."

At that moment Dean woke up and noticed that Cate was talking on his phone. "Hey give that here."

"Whatever," said Cate and handed over the phone.

The next word out of Dean's mouth revealed the identity of the speaker, even if he didn't sound like he really believed who it was that was calling: "Cassie?"

"So, who is this Cassie person anyway?" Cate asked Sam as they were standing beside the Impala outside a rest stop on the way to Forest, Mississippi. All that Dean had said was that Cassie was calling about mysterious deaths in Forest, where she had gotten a job at a local newspaper. Dean then had them pack up and leave the motel, back on the road without even eating breakfast.

"She is Dean's ex-girlfriend. Did quite a number on him too awhile back," said Sam. "She called for help and when we showed up she and Dean, well they did what Dean does and then, once we had helped her and were leaving, she said that it was never going to work between the two of them. Closest I've ever seen Dean to heart-broken and apparently it wasn't all that pretty when he left the first time either."

"Sounds so very un-Dean-like," commented Cate as she walked around the car and sat down in the backseat.

Sam leaned over and said, "Yeah, well I thought it was weird too and now she calls him, I don't know. What does it mean when a girl calls her ex anyway?"

"Well, there are a couple of reasons: first it could be because she needs help and wants to see him again; secondly it could be because she just wants to see him again or third, she needs help and he is the only person she can think of that can help."

"Isn't the third option messing with Dean's head and sending mixed signals, though?"

"Well, if that is the reason she probably didn't want to do it but had no other option. It's like if one of the two of you can down with some weird heart condition I would call up my ex, who's father happens to be the leading cardiologist on the eastern sea-board. I don't want to get back together but it is my best option," explained Cate.

"Oh," said Sam understanding Cate's point.

"How they said good-bye might help me figure it out a bit more: like if she didn't say good-bye at all I'm guessing she just needs help or if when she didn't kiss him or anything. If she did kiss him on the cheek or something like that then she may want to get back together."

"And what if it was a full-on kiss?" asked Sam.

"Then all bets are off. It could be that she was still into him or that she was making it count because it was the last time."

"Well, that sucks," sighed Sam.

"What sucks?" demanded Dean as he exited the store with food in hand.

"Nothing, forget it," mumbled Sam.

"Fine, don't tell me," snapped Dean. "Now get in the car we have a lot of ground to cover."

"Testy, much?" said Cate.

"I just wanna kill something evil," shot Dean.

"Yeah, I'm sure that's it," chuckled Sam.

"Dude, do you have something to say 'cause if you do I'm all ears."

"Nope, nothing, nothing at all," said Sam with a grin.

Dean then punched Sam in the shoulder and climbed in the car without another word. Cate was in the back seat trying with all her might to contain her laughter.

"What are you smiling about chuckles," demanded Dean.

"Nothing only that this is going to be an interesting couple of days."

Forest, Mississippi was just like so many other towns that each of the hunters had visited on their travels. A main street lined with small stores and restaurants, old homes with well kept gardens and small children playing in the yard and people greeting each other as they walked down the street. The dirty, black Impala and its occupants were definitely out of place in a setting like this. The car pulled up out side the local newspaper offices and the three hunters spilled out onto the sidewalk.

"I'll go inside and find Cassie, the two of you can wait here," ordered Dean.

"And why exactly would that be?" demanded Cate irritation seeping into her voice.

"I just think it will be easier for her if she isn't greeted the three of us. There are fewer questions if one person comes to visit her at work," explained Dean with the same irritation in his voice.

"I really don't think that this matters because here she comes now," interjected Sam, pointing toward the door to the office. A slender woman with a large mane of curly dark hair was striding towards the Cate and the Winchesters, a steely look of determination set in her eyes.

She was not at all what Cate had expected. For starters she was neither blond nor particularly leggy and dressed rather conservatively. She did not look the type to be picked up as a one night stand, but then again appearances can be deceiving.

"Hi, Dean, Sam," greeted Cassie when she reached the trio, "And you must be who I talked to on the phone. I'm Cassie.

"So I've heard. I'm Cate, nice to meet you," smiled Cate.

"Yeah that's great, so Dean how have you been?" asked Cassie completely ignoring Cate's presence.

"Okay, I guess," said Dean nervously. This situation was rather awkward and Dean wasn't really sure what to do or say. He felt like he was drowning, spinning in a whirlpool, not knowing which way was up or down.

"So, what exactly did you call us for?" asked Cate impatiently, not wanting to wait for Cassie and Dean to catch up before they found out why they were here.

"Oh, yeah, in the past 3 months 12 people have gone missing in a forest nearby. There are no traces of the hikers or their bodies and there are these weird tracks that experts say look like lion tracks and there are no signs of the victims struggling. I thought it was weird so I called Dean and Sam," explained Cassie coolly to Cate.

"Well, that sounds like our kind of problem. I guess we will have to stick around and check it out, meaning that we should find a place to stay," said Cate.

"Why don't you and Sam go do that and me and Dean can catch up," suggested Cassie with a little more force in her voice than there should be for a suggestion.

"Yeah and you and geek boy can get a start on the research for this job," added Dean.

"Whatever," scoffed Sam as he grabbed the keys from Dean and directed Cate towards the passenger's seat.

"See you, later Dean and it was nice meeting you Cassie," said Cate with a grin. Cassie gave a half-hearted smile and lead Dean away by the arm as the car pulled away.

Sam and Cate rode to the nearest motel in silence and it wasn't until they had a room and were inside that Sam noticed Cate's brows furrowed in contemplation and asked her exactly what she was thinking.

"Is it just me or does Cassie come off like an ice queen?" asked Cate.

"Nope, there was definitely a chilly vibe when you met her."

"Why though? It isn't like I ever did anything to her, in fact I just met her," said Cate tossing down her bag on the bed.

"Well, she sees you as a threat," responded Sam, fishing his laptop put of his bag and settling down for a long session of research.

"A threat to what though? Her and Dean, because if that is it she is so delusional."

"Well, no one ever accused her of being the most observant girl, I mean she dated Dean. She must be deaf, blind and dumb (and not in the can't speak kind of way)," joked Sam.

Cate couldn't help but laugh at this. When the laughter had subsided she said: "Let's get down to business: you find out all you can about the victims and I'll check into local history to see if this has happened before."

With that the room fell into silence and quiet contemplation of the afternoon's events. It wasn't long before Cate discovered that this had happened before in this small sleepy town. In fact, it had happened every 36 years as far back the town records went. The only exception was that after a four month period a body was found looking like it was attacked by a wild animal. Cate informed Sam of this and he asked: "So what is it that is doing this?"

Cate looked thoughtful for a moment and then grabbed a book from her bag. Flipping furiously through the pages she stopped and let out a small cry of victory.

"Here it is, the manitcore: a legendary creature of old - said to hunt and eat humans, including bones and clothing, and occasionally kills and leaves the body as a kind of trophy. It uses poison to disable its victims, which explains why there were no signs of a struggle. Also, because it is a creature it could go into hibernation, explaining the 36 year gap in the disappearances. What do you think?" said Cate handing the open book to Sam.

He skimmed the page and looked up at Cate. "I think you might have found exactly what we are dealing with. We should call Dean and tell him."

An hour and ten unanswered phone calls later Cate grumbled, "Let's forget him and leave him to what ever it is he is doing. Why don't we go get a late diner?"

"Fine, I'm sure Dean will be back tomorrow."

"We can only hope."

Cate and Sam tumbled through the door of the motel laughing after a very enjoyable diner. It was good to get away from hunting and Dean every so often and this evening had provided that escape.

"You really super-glued his hand to a beer bottle?"

"Yup, you should have seen the look on his face. It was priceless," verified Sam.

"I wish I could have. I have so much energy," said Cate bouncing around a little to illustrate her point, "I want to do something: I want to go to a club and dance or run through the forest or go skinning dipping or something."

"Yeah well, I think the forest is a little off-limits at night until we kill this thing. Also, I doubt that there is a club in this town and I don't do skinny-dipping," said Sam sitting on down the bed.

"Oh, you are no fun," pouted Cate and she flicked on the small radio in the motel room. "Promiscuous Girl" by Nelly Furtado pumped through the small speakers and Cate started to move to the beat. "Well, just because there is no club doesn't mean we can't dance," said Cate as she moved to get Sam off of the bed.

"Nope, no way, I don't dance," professed Sam, shaking his head.

"Fine, be that way," sighed Cate with a frown, "But I'm still going to dance."

She moved back to the center of the room and continued to move to the music. Sam couldn't take his eyes off of her: she moved with such grace, so free. She was the same wild creature that Sam saw when she ran; she was completely lost to the music and incredibly sensual and sexy. She captivated Sam and he didn't want to be freed from her spell.

Cate too, was lost to the world. Lost in the music, she didn't notice anything around her, her eyes were closed and all that existed were her and the music. Neither party in the room was aware when the door to the room opened and Dean peered in. He didn't make a sound as he was, also, momentarily ensnared by the sight of Cate. However, the song ended and the three hunters regained there senses.

"I see the two of you have been having some fun while I was gone," laughed Dean. "Sam, I am shocked I never knew that you liked to watch and Cate, nice moves, you can give me a dance any time."

"Or not, anyway where have you been all this time?" asked Cate quickly changing the subject.

"Oh, catching up with an old friend," said Dean.

"Well we didn't expect you back until morning, so we only got one room," explained Sam.

"Oh, were the two of you planning something because I can leave," said Dean gesturing toward the door with an unreadable expression on his face.

"No, it saves on costs," clarified Cate.

"Okay then."

"Why are you back so early Dean? I thought you and Cassie would be getting re-acquainted like last time we saw her," asked Sam.

"Well, we had diner and hung out at a bar for a while, just catching up, then she invited back to her place for coffee. It turns out, however, that she doesn't want it to be like last time and she sent me back here. Dude, thanks for the message telling me where you were. She's a freaking tease, that's what she is: why are women so cruel?" Dean demanded to the air.

"Hello, woman right here," exclaimed Cate. "And women aren't cruel, just cautious. Anyway we think we figured out what is going on here and we'll tell you in the morning, but right now I need sleep."

"Sure, but where is everyone going to sleep?" questioned Sam, looking at the two double beds in the room and wishing there was a couch to make it a whole lot easier. There was no way that the two Winchesters could both fit in one bed leaving Cate with the option of which brother to bunk with.

"Cate can share with me," offered Dean in a voice that made her think twice about accepting that offer.

"I think I'll take my chances with Sam, thank you," said Cate declining Dean's invitation and heading to the bathroom to change.

Both boys took the opportunity to strip down to boxers and a t-shirt.

"Now, Sam, I don't want to be hearing anything funny in the middle of the night…" began Dean, but was cut off by a pillow hitting him square in the face.

"Shut up Dean."

"Fine, but…" again Dean didn't get a chance because Cate walked out of the bathroom and he suddenly didn't feel like finishing his sentence.

"Well, don't stop on my account. I would like to hear what great words of wisdom Dean Winchester has to pass onto his brother," said Cate her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Never mind and go to bed," snapped Dean and rolled over to signal that the conversation was finished.

"Okay," replied Cate and climbed into the small bed next to Sam. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

For the first time in a long time Sam slept soundly that night and woke up only once when he found that Cate had pulled almost all the sheets to her side of the bed, leaving him freezing. He looked at her sleeping and couldn't help but notice how different she looked. She was more relaxed and it showed in all of her features. He couldn't help but think how angelic she looked, with her hair splayed out on the pillow behind her head and her lids shut, her long eyelashes nearly resting on her high cheek-bones. He fell back to sleep making sure to commit the sight of her sleeping to memory.

Cate, on the other hand, slept fitfully and woke at the crack of dawn. She found Sam's arm draped over her stomach and she looked over at him. In his sleep Sam looked like a young boy, without the worry or troubles that Cate knew plagued his waking life. She shifted slowly out of bed, careful not to disturb Sam and prepared to go for her morning run. She hardly noticed Dean stirring in his bed.

"Where are you going?" asked Dean groggily when Cate made a move toward the door.

"For a run," answered Cate.

"Do you really think that it is a good idea to be going for a run alone when people have been getting killed right and left in this town for the past three months?" questioned Dean.

"People only go missing in the woods and besides no one is awake to go running with me."

"I'm awake."

"You don't come running with me," stated Cate simply.

"You've never asked," responded Dean.

"Fine, then you can come provided that you can keep up," challenged Cate.

"Oh you are so on," said Dean getting out of bed and pulling on Sam's sweat pants and grabbing his wallet.

Cate led the way outside and stopped in front of the motel, deciding which way to go. She looked straight ahead at the small lake across the road and decided that it might be fun to run along the beach. She turned to Dean and said, "Catch me if you can." She took off running and Dean started after her.

Dean was a lot quicker than Cate expected, she had to try to keep ahead of him and if she hadn't had a head start she suspected that they would be neck in neck. Running in the sand was difficult and she suspected that Dean would tire easily but that wasn't the case: he had more stamina than Cate had given him credit for. They were just rounding the far side of the lake when Cate noticed the apartment buildings that lined the beach. Taking advantage of the distraction Dean used this moment to catch up with Cate. He, however, did not notice the piece of wood that was stuck in the sand: he tripped and stumbled forward running into Cate and knocking her to the ground. She twisted and managed to land on top of Dean.

Out of breath she laughed, "Couldn't catch up with me any other way so you had to tackle me, eh?"

Dean couldn't help but laugh at this and he flipped over so that now Cate was underneath him. "But now I've got you exactly where I want you," breathed Dean, just as out of breath as Cate was.

Cate was about to say something when they heard a voice coming form the top of the beach, "Dean?"

Dean looked up and in the early morning light he recognized Cassie walking toward the pair. He quickly rolled off of Cate and stood up, helping Cate up after him.

"What are you doing here?" asked Cassie a suspicious glint in her eyes.

"We were just going for a run and Dean tripped and fell on top of me," answered Cate.

"Did I ask you;" snapped Cassie "Is it true Dean?"

"Yeah, but what are you doing here?"

"My apartment is one of the buildings, remember, and I was going for a walk," stated Cassie warmly.

"You shouldn't be out alone at this time, it is dangerous," interjected Cate.

"Well then, why are you out?" demanded Cassie in a voice so cold that Cate thought it could freeze hell.

"I'm not alone and I have a weapon," explained Cate defensively, showing Cassie the gun strapped to her ankle.

"Well, good for you," snapped Cassie.

"Cassie, you should really get back to your building. Let me take you back," suggested Dean. Cassie agreed and was lead away by Dean.

"Nice seeing you again," said Cate, trying to be polite. Cassie simply ignored her.

When Dean returned she simply said, "Well, you know how to pick'em."

"What does that mean?" demanded Dean.

"Never mind, let's get back to the motel, Sam will be wondering where we are," and with that she took off down the beach with Dean in tow.

The pair arrived back at the motel just as Sam was waking. They hadn't said a word to each other the whole way back and Dean could tell that Cate was annoyed at how Cassie had treated her.

"Hey, guys, where have you been?" asked Sam.

"Out for a run and we ran into Dean's oh-so-charming girl friend," explained Cate in an irritated tone. "I am going to grab a shower, please fill Dean in on the details of what we found last night."

Ten minutes later Cate walked out of the bathroom toweling off her hair and fully dressed. She was greeted by a confused Dean.

"What do you mean this is a manitcore? They live in India: how did one end up in North America?" questioned Dean.

"It doesn't matter how it ended up here, all that matters is that it fits the profile and we know how to kill it," stated Cate, announcing her presence to the brothers.

"And how exactly is that?" demanded Dean, irritated.

"Simple, like any animal you shoot it. Only this is no ordinary animal, it is smarter and faster. That means that it is going to be a bit tougher a hunt. We have to be alert and ready for anything. I say we head into the woods today and stay overnight. It is more likely to attack after dark because it has better night-vision than the humans that it hunts. We can start at the sight of the latest disappearances and try to track it from there."

"We'll it sure sounds like you have put a lot of thought into this plan, but how do you know that it is going to work?" pressed Dean.

"Do you have a better idea?"

After a long pause Dean said, "No, but if things go south with this I'm blaming you."

"I can live with that," chuckled Cate, "Now, I think if we are going to spend the night camping we are going to need some supplies. Sam and I will go get everything we need and you can prep your weapons for the hunt."

"And why don't I get to help with the supplies?" asked Dean, slightly offended.

"Because if you did all we would end up with is peanut M & M's and beer," laughed Sam.

Cate and Sam were returning several hours later, laden down with camping equipment - some rented, some purchased – and food supplies. They had bought one large, four person tent, thinking that in their line of work it was a good thing to have and a set of portable dishes and pans. They were moving the supplies to the motel room to pack into the large backpacks for the "camping trip" they were about to embark on.

"So, are you the Boy Scout type, the perfect out-doors man?" asked Cate grinning.

"No, not really, dad never really took us camping per say, more like short day trips into the forest to kill whatever creature happened to be there. What about you?"

"My dad used to take me camping and the more traditional form of hunting when I was little, so I do have so experience in the matter," responded Cate. "Don't worry I can show you all that you need to know."

They reached the door and Cate unlocked it, letting Sam in first. On the other side of the door they found Cassie with a pack much like the ones that Cate and Sam just bought.

"What is she doing here?" asked Cate in slight disbelief.

"Cassie, wanted to come along with us and help out," explained Dean.

"Yeah, I just want to gain a better understanding of what it is that Dean does," said Cassie with a smirk on her face.

More than anything Cate wanted to knock that smirk off her face but instead she mumbled, "Sure, his work, that's it, not his anatomy or anything."

"What was that?" demanded Dean.

"Oh, nothing, don't you think this a little dangerous for her?" asked Cate.

"I can handle myself," stated Cassie with confidence.

"Oh really, can you shoot a shotgun, a handgun, a bow or a crossbow? How about a handling a hunting knife?" questioned Cate.

"No, but…"

"And you expect her to be able to help us?" demanded Cate of Dean, incredulous.

"I'm coming and that is final," said Cassie.

"Fine, but if you die I'm not taking the blame for it," grumbled Cate in concession.

"Well now that that is settled, I suggest we get going before we lose the light," said Sam raising his head from the three packs he had quickly prepared during the argument.

With that the foursome loaded into the Impala with as few words as were needed. The Winchesters made sure that the two women were kept apart with Cate riding shotgun and Cassie in the backseat with Sam.

"Well, this should be fun," mumbled Sam under his breath as Dean pulled out of the parking lot.

When the hunters and Cassie arrived at their designated entry point they piled out of the car and strapped the packs to their backs. Cate went over a check list to makes sure they had everything and secured a gun in the waistband of her pants at the small of her back. The boys did like-wise and then they set off into the woods following Cate's lead. Two hours later they reached the spot where the latest disappearance was said to take place. They could see the sun slowly setting in the west.

"We should probably make camp and stay here for the night. Not only will we not be able to see the tracks after dusk, but it is also more dangerous," stated Cate.

"And how do you expect to be safe here, where the last group of people were attacked?" demanded Cassie.

"Getting scared are we?" scoffed Cate.

"We use symbols to create a protected space, so that the creature can't enter," explained Dean.

"Sammy and I can put those down, why don't you and Cassie set up camp?" suggested Cate grabbing Sam's wrist and dragging him away. "Okay we want to make this fairly large because people need their space."

"You mean, you need space from Cassie," Sam chuckled.

"Yes," sighed Cate, "I mean, how could Dean bring her along? She is only putting herself and us in more danger because she doesn't know how to fight."

"I have to agree but Dean won't listen to reason when it comes to women," laughed Sam, tracing the first symbol in the dirt.

"Whatever," mumbled Cate and they continued in silence creating a protective circle with a diameter of fifty feet.

They turned their attention toward the centre of the circle and saw Dean and Cassie struggling hopelessly with the tent. Cate just sighed and stepped forward, but Sam beat her to the punch: "Why don't Cate and I set up the tent, Dean?"

"Fine, but the damn thing won't work," grumbled Dean.

"I'm sure we'll figure it out. Why don't you teach Cassie how to shot so she won't be completely helpless?" suggested Cate. She and Sam set to work on the tent and within five minutes they were loading supplies into it.

"Is that girl completely useless?" complained Cate gesturing towards where Dean was teaching Cassie to shoot.

"No, she just wasn't raised like us. She doesn't know the things we do and Dean seems to think she has her uses," said Sam.

"Yeah well, just because she is good in bed doesn't mean she should be out hunting," mumbled Cate.

"Is some one jealous?" asked Sam.

"Of her, no way," stated Cate. "I just don't want her mistakes getting me or anyone else hurt or killed."

"I suppose you have a point. I just wish Dean would see it," whistled Sam.

Dean and Cassie returned from shooting lessons after about forty-five minutes and Dean declared: "I think we should try and get some rest. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow."

"Who is going to take the first watch?" asked Sam.

"I'll do it, but who should I wake up after me?" volunteered Cate.

"You can wake me and I'll wake Dean. If we each take two and a half hour shifts we can all be up at 7:30 am," figured Sam in his head.

"But that is only three people: what about me?" asked Cassie.

"The people who are standing watch need to be able to defend the camp and quite frankly, honey, I don't want to die in my sleep," retorted Cate.

"Bitch," muttered Cassie under her breath.

"Whore," breathed Cate as she walked away and took her position, gun in hand, near the edge of the camp.

"Women," said Dean and Sam at the same time.

Cate's watch was rather uneventful. The only creature that was spotted was an unfortunate squirrel, which nearly lost his life after he startled Cate. Her shift was ending and she went and woke Sam from his slumber.

"Hey, sleepy-head, time to wake up," she whispered in his ear, shaking him slightly.

"I'm up," he mumbled and got up out of the tent, pulling on his boots slowly.

He went and sat next to the camp fire and picked up a shotgun. Checking to make sure it was loaded he settled down for a long night on the log being used as a bench. Cate came and planted herself next to him, sighing heavily as she sat down.

"Shouldn't you be getting some sleep?" asked Sam.

"Rule 1: never go to sleep until you make sure the person on the next watch won't," stated Cate with a sly grin.

"Good point," sighed Sam. He then winced and began to rub his shoulder, "Sleeping on the ground sucks."

"Aw, muffin, have a cramp?" teased Cate in the voice usually reserved for babies and small animals.

"Yeah, thanks for the sympathy," grumbled Sam.

"Fine, here let me help," said Cate moving so that she was behind Sam. She reached up and touched his shoulder, slowly working the tense muscles with her fingers. Sam let out a small groan of appreciation and Cate continued to massage away all the tension Sam had in his sore shoulder.

"Where did you learn to give massages?" murmured Sam, his voice husky from the pleasure.

"Well, one of my sorority sisters in college said that every girl should know how to give a good massage and proceeded to teach me and some of the other new pledges," explained Cate keeping her voice perfectly level.

"God bless sororities," said Sam.

"Now you are sounding like Dean," laughed Cate.

"No, if I were Dean I'd be asking for her number," joked Sam.

"True enough."

"And wait, you were in a sorority?" asked Sam, disbelieving.

"What, you don't think I was?" demanded Cate. "I'll have you know that I went in for the whole 'normal college experience' as much as you did. It didn't really pan out the way I had hoped, but I made some good friends, had some good times and gained valuable life lessons."

"And what about when you disappeared to go fight the supernatural?" inquired Sam, letting loose a small moan of pleasure from the constant pressure of Cate's hands.

"I told them that I was visiting my sick aunt. That is until my roommate figured out the truth. She had a problem in her old house with a poltergeist that I fixed for her and she accepted the truth pretty easily. She even came along on some of my hunts. It was good having some one I could talk to, kind of like my own personal Alfred. Now that you seem to be fully awake, Sam, I am going to go get some rest myself. See you in the morning," said Cate.

"Goodnight," answered Sam, already missing her pressure of her hands on his now relaxed shoulder.

Cate climbed into the tent and lay down beside Dean, who was separating her and Cassie. She clambered into the sleeping bag and was claimed by sleep almost immediately. She woke up several hours later to find that Dean had been replaced by Sam. Feeling completely awake and a little bit restless, Cate got up a moved toward the entrance to the tent. Before she could leave, however, she heard some one shivering. Looking down she found Cassie curled in the fetal position, with her teeth chattering. It wasn't that cold of a night and it was certainly warm in the tent, but it would figure that Cassie was cold. Rolling her eye Cate grabbed her empty sleeping bag and unzipped it. Carefully she laid it over Cassie's sleeping form and promptly exited the tent.

Cate found Dean sitting by the fire with a shotgun on his knee, staring off into the woods. She crept up slowly and silently behind him and slid her hands over his eyes.

"Guess who?" she whispered.

Grabbing her wrists, a startled Dean, whipped Cate around and pinned her on the ground beneath him. Seeing who it was Dean exclaimed, "Never sneak up on a person on watch. I could have shot you."

Cate just laughed and said, "Never let anyone sneak up on you when you are on watch. If I was the manitcore you would be dead. Now let me up."

Dean moved off of Cate, moved back to his position on the log. Cate sat down next to him and held her hands out to warm them over the fire.

"You are getting rusty," stated Cate.

"I am not rusty," argued Dean. "I was just thinking."

"Yeah, well, in this line of business you can't afford to get distracted, when you do it gets people killed and if it gets me killed I am so going to haunt your ass," joked Cate, thinly veiling her true message.

"Whatever, I'll keep you safe," said Dean.

"I'm not the one who needs your protection," stated Cate.

At this Dean snapped, "Cassie can take care of herself."

"But can she?" demanded Cate.

"I don't know. I want her to be able to," mumbled Dean.

"Yeah but that isn't the same thing. Dean this is a dangerous life to lead, she has to be prepared."

"Well, no time like the present to learn," sighed Dean.

"In university one of my friends found out about what I do. She wanted to join me and I trained her for weeks before I took her to face even the weakest spooks and here you are taking a newbie to face something that none of us have. I just don't think it is a good idea."

"I just…" began Dean.

"What, Dean?"

"I don't know, I guess I just wanted some one to share this with, to have her understand what I do," sighed Dean.

Cate reached forward and held one of Dean's hands and with her other hand she lifted his chin and made him look her in the eyes: "I know the feeling, but you have to be smart about it."

At that moment Cassie emerged from the tent and Saw Cate with Dean. She stomped forward and lunged at Cate with a low growl. Seeing Cassie out of the corner of her I Cate ducked out of her way and Cassie toppled to the ground.

"You man-stealing bitch," yelled Cassie.

"What are…?" started Cate but she was interrupted, ducking to avoid Cassie's attempt to hit her.

"I saw you with Dean," growled Cassie, swinging again.

Cate easily dodged her feeble attempts and said, "Not what you think."

"Sure it isn't," panted Cassie between shots at Cate.

"Okay, that is enough," snapped Cate. She easily grabbed Cassie's wrist and gracefully swung around behind her. She pinned Cassie's arm to her back and slammed the slender woman to the nearest tree. Pushing on her elbow, so that her shoulder threatened to dislocate, Cate said very clearly, "Despite what you might think I do not want Dean, I don't want to take your place and I don't want to sleep with Dean, if I did I probably could have in the months we have been traveling together. Now, stop the jealous bitch act and smarten up: how do you expect us to beat the manitcore if we are bickering among ourselves? I will let you go now, but only if you promise to stop trying to hit me because it is a waste of your time and energy and I don't want to have to keep dodging. Do you understand?"

Cassie nodded through gritted teeth and Cate let go of her arm and stepped back, smoothing her shirt as if nothing had happened. Both Winchester men stood – Sam at the entrance to the tent and Dean standing by the fire – in complete shock as to what just happened.

"And you think she is ready to face the things that go bump in the night," scoffed Cate in Dean's direction.

They prepared their breakfast in silence, no one wanting to talk about what just happened. Cassie sat glaring at Cate and rubbing her sore shoulder. Dean sat close to Cassie talking quietly and Sam and Cate cooked the bacon and eggs in a small pan. When they were done Cate moved to hand Cassie a plate, but she wouldn't accept it.

"How do I know that you haven't done anything to it?" demanded Cassie paranoia creeping into her mind.

"Because you watched me prepare it and what would I do anyway, poison it? If I wanted you dead I would have shot you, it is much easier to pass it off as a hunting accident," joked Cate, however Cassie didn't seem to think it was.

"You psycho bitch, what are you going to do to me?"

"Okay, calm down, I was just joking. The only thing I'm going to do to you is try to keep you alive when we face this thing. You should just relax, I don't kill people; I kill demons and ghosts and all sorts of other evil things."

"I think the two of you need sometime apart: why don't me and Cassie go for a walk and have some time to calm down, the both of you," suggested Dean.

"Or how about me and Sam, two people more equipped to handle anything out there, go for the walk and you teach her a little more about hunting, so that I don't have to worry as much about her getting some one killed," countered Cate.

"Whatever sounds good," sighed Dean and Sam and Cate rose grabbed some weapons and walked toward the edge of the protected area. "Oh and I'll try and pick up this thing's trail so that we can follow it later."

With that Sam and Cate left the camp, leaving Dean and Cassie alone. Silence prevailed for a minute but then it was broken by Cassie, "Is she always such a bitch?"

"No, she is just worried," explained Dean.

"What does she have to be worried about? It can't be that hard to kill this thing. It wasn't that hard with the ghost."

"This is a whole different ball game. This is a creature stronger than most animals, faster and smarter. Hunting this will be tough and she doesn't want anyone hurt or worse dead. She only does it because she cares and values human life," said Dean, just realizing how much he had in common with Cate.

"Whatever," said Cassie, "At least we are alone now," with that she leaned forward and captured Dean's mouth in a fierce and demanding kiss. Dean started to return the kiss but then pulled back suddenly, much to the surprise of both parties involved.

"We can't do this, we can't afford to be distracted," explained Dean, trying to convince himself that it was the real reason for ending the kiss.

"Okay," murmured Cassie looking hurt. The silence returned to the camp and an awkward tension settled between Dean and Cassie.

Away from the camp Sam was following Cate, who had picked up the manticore's trail. After traveling for several minutes in silence Sam couldn't bear it any longer.

"Why do you hate Cassie so much? I understand that she thinks you are trying to steal Dean or whatever, but what is your problem with her?" demanded Sam frustrated.

"I don't hate Cassie, I just don't like the fact that she is here. She is a distraction for Dean and for us because she can't defend herself. In this type of work a distraction can get you killed and I don't want to see you dead," Cate murmured.

"Why do you think that that is going to happen? We can take care of ourselves," reassured Sam.

"I think that because it has happened to me before and you can't take care of yourselves if you have to take care of some one else, especially if some one is attracted to the distraction."

"What do you mean it has happened before?" pressed Sam.

"You just wouldn't understand, in freshman year of college there was this one time that I was dating this other hunter and we went out together to try and kill this demon. I was distracted and the guy almost got killed because of me. If your dad hadn't shown up at the last minute he would be dead, I know that for a fact, and he was a hunter. In this line of work business and pleasure can't mix for the safety of everyone involved," rushed Cate her voice cracking slightly from the emotion of it all.

"That isn't your fault," murmured Sam.

"But it is, don't you get it: I messed up and it nearly cost some one their life. I don't want that to happen again and this time John Winchester won't be there to swoop in and save the day," sighed Cate.

"Yeah, but you do have one thing."

"And what is that?"

"Me, I'll be the knight in shinning armor, if it comes to that," grinned Sam.

"Thanks for the offer but I think you need to keep your head in the game too. We should be getting back to camp now, I've got the trail and we wouldn't want to walk right into its lair without Dean. He would be so mad if we killed it without him," joked Cate signaling that the heart-to-heart was over.

"Okay let's go kill this thing."

Sam and Cate returned to the camp to find Dean and Cassie in complete silence. They were seated on opposite sides of the fire with Dean poking the dying embers and Cassie staring off into space. The air was thick with tension as Cate entered the camp, so much so that it was almost palpable. Sam stepped on a twig and it snapped alerting the not so happy couple to his and Cate's return.

"I've picked up the trail and I think it should take us right to its lair, so gear up it's time we went hunting," stated Cate.

"Finally," Dean grumbled and grabbed the worn duffle bag filled with the weapons. He handed Sam and Cate each a shotgun and Cate grabbed her twin handguns and strapped the holsters around her waist. She added a knife at her hip and swung a small backpack onto her back: the overall effect gave her the look of Laura Croft. She looked over at Cassie and realized that no one had handed the new girl a gun. Cate turned around and grabbed a handgun out of Dean's bag and handed it to the frightened looking young woman, making sure that the safety was on.

"Here, you'll need this," said Cate. "Dean taught you how to shoot, right?"

"Thanks," Cassie murmured, "And yeah he did."

"Okay then we're ready, let's get going," said Dean checking to make sure that he had everything.

They left the camp with Cate in the lead and Dean taking up the rear. Sam walked beside Cassie keeping an eye out for anything dangerous. They followed the manticore's tracks for almost two hours before stopping outside what appeared to be a very deep cave.

"We don't have to go in there, do we?" questioned Cassie.

"Unfortunately, yes we do," Dean responded before anyone else could.

"Well, lets not beat around the bush,' said Cate as she took off her backpack and pulled four flashlights out of it. "You're lucky I keep a spare."

She handed a flashlight to each of the members of the hunting party and Sam, Dean as well as herself, removed their guns from their various resting places and held them with the flashlight. Cate was the first to duck into the cave and found that it wasn't one cave, but a series of interconnected caves and tunnels.

"Oh shit, this couldn't be easy now could it," Cate grumbled as the other three filed in behind her. There were tracks everywhere and Cate couldn't tell in the low lighting which ones were freshest. "I guess we will just have to pick a direction and go that way."

"Okay, I say right," stated Dean.

"Sounds good to me," responded Cate and Sam at the same time. They looked at each other and then headed down a tunnel to the far right. They walked for what felt like hours, slowly creeping deeper and deeper into the caves before they reached a large round cavern. It was filled with stalagmites and stalactites, but they could see a large clearing in the centre of the room. In the middle of this clearly there was a large and roughly hewn stone slab on which they would see the resting form of the manitcore. It was a hideous creature with the sleek body of a large cat with a large mane, but the resemblance to a lion ended there. It had a gruesome face of a human, but with wild and untamed features, even in its sleep it had the look of a mad-man, and its tail ended in a large bulbous sphere with nasty looking spines on it. They spines, the group knew, were filled with the poison that the fearsome hunter used to sedate its prey. Dean signaled and the group crept forward slowly. He made another gesture for them to split up and try and take the monster from all sides.

Slowly they moved into position, with Cassie stationed between Cate and Dean. On Dean's signal they started to move toward it, but Cassie wasn't watching where she was stepping, her foot slid into a hole in the floor and she let out a small yelp. Unfortunately it was enough to wake the sleeping beast which hopped up and spun around to face the terrified girl. Cassie yelled at Dean, "My foot is stuck help!"

The manitcore leaped forward and swung its tail at Cassie, she ducked just in time and it missed. With a growl of frustration and fury the manitcore swung its tail again, but it missed its target for a second time. Cate dived toward Cassie knocking her off her feet and to the ground.

"You okay?" asked Cate.

"Yeah," Cassie managed to choke out in a feeble voice.

"Good, 'cause I'm not," sad Cate drowsily, pulling one of the manticore's spines out of her side. She felt the world around her slipping into darkness and the last thing she was aware of was shots being fired and Dean running to her side.

What felt like minutes later, but Cate realized must in reality be hours, she gradually perceived herself to be lying in a bed. She opened her eyes and spotted Dean sitting on the bed opposite hers. When he realized that she was awake he moved immediately to sit beside her on the bed and asked, "Are you alright? How is your head and are you still able to move everything?"

"Calm down, I'm fine or at least I will be when the last of the poison wears off. My head is okay, though still a wee bit fuzz and I can feel all my limbs. Is Cassie alright?" inquired Cate wanting to know if she had succeeded in saving the girl.

"Yeah, she's fine. Sam got a clean shot right after you were hit and we got out of there pretty quickly. We had to carry you out of the caves and back to the camp and then out of the woods, which P.S. not an easy task. You would never know by looking at you that you weighed that much," joked Dean.

"Its pure muscle," laughed Cate, speaking nothing but the truth. "Where are Sam and Cassie anyway?"

"Sam is out getting some breakfast, you've been out almost 24 hours and Cassie, well Cassie is gone. I guess she just couldn't handle what we do; at least that is what she said. We dropped her off at her place and she said that it was goodbye," Dean's voice fell as he said the last part and he couldn't disguise all the pain in his voice no matter how hard he tried.

Cate sat up and looked at Dean. His head was hung and he was looking at his feet. Cate moved her hand and rubbed Dean's back comforting him, "Hey, Dean it's okay to feel this way when you lose some one you love…"

"But, that's just it, I don't love her. I know that now: what hurts is that I don't know if I can love and if I do will that person be able to accept my life," he said looking at Cate, eyes filled with unshed tears, as if she had all the answers.

In that moment Cate realized just how hurt Dean was on the inside: the emotional scars seemed to outnumber all those that he had gained from a lifetime of hunting. "Dean, I don't know…" she began and the she gave an ironic sort of laugh, "Actually, I wish I didn't know what you are going through. It's tough to find out that you really didn't love some one when you wanted so badly to, but it doesn't mean that you aren't capable of love. You love Sammy and your dad, more than they may ever know, but I see it and I don't know if you will ever find some one who 'gets it', but I hope you do because you deserve it," said Cate her voice barely above a whisper.

Dean looked at Cate and he knew that she was sincere. He didn't know what to say, but luckily he didn't have to say anything, she pulled Dean into a hug and he seemed to melt against her, letting go of all the pain. After a moment he pulled away and chuckled, "If Sammy could see me now, what a chick-flick moment."

"Well, I won't tell him if you don't," offered Cate sticking out her hand.

"You have a deal," he said taking her hand. "Boy, this sensitive crap really is a chick magnet."

Cate grabbed a pillow and knocked Dean playfully in the head. "You loser, you're a shrinks dream, you know that?" laughed Cate.

"Well, if it is a woman than yeah, I do."

Just then Sam walked through the door with breakfast and two cups of coffee.

"And where is mine?" asked Cate.

"You're awake," smiled Sam.

"That is the general consensus," she grinned. "And to answer your next question: I'm fine, just a bit hungry."

"Well, then eat this," said Sam handing his food to her.

"You are so sweet," smiled Cate.

"So, I've heard. Now enough with trying to butter up my brother: where to next?" demanded Dean.

After swallowing a large mouthful of bagel Cate voiced her suggestion, "I was thinking that the trunk of the car is getting a little full of files and low on supplies, so I say we swing back to my place in Kansas and rest up for a few days."

"Sounds good to me: what about you Dean?"

"I'm fine with that, but if something comes up along the way we stop," said Dean.

"Whatever, I'm good with that," commented Sam.

"There's no place like home," smiled Cate giving her okay to the plan.

**Chapter 19**

When it was all said and done it took the trio of hunters just under a month to get back to Leavenworth. They had run into a particularly hard to kill ghost in Arkansas and were delayed. It turned out that the guy was a nut job and had his body split into five pieces and was buried to form a five pointed star and caused one hell of a problem for Cate and the Winchesters. Dean pulled the Impala up into the large barn that served as the garage. He pulled into on of the empty stalls and turned off the car. They piled out of the vehicle and grabbed their bags and equipment from the trunk. Walking towards the house Sam noted that no one would ever suspect that the house was unoccupied most of the time because of the pristine grounds. However, the inside of the house was a completely different matter.

When they had arrived here last time Cate had given warning and her aunt Pat had prepared the house for their arrival. This time was different, Cate had given no warning and on walking through the front door they found a pile of mail and a thin layer of dust covered the hardwood floors. Peering into the other rooms Sam could see the furniture covered with white sheets, mimicking a seven year-olds' idea of a ghost. It was a lonely place and Sam had a feeling that this was what Cate often returned to. He felt a pang of pity. Her life was like this house empty and full of ghosts.

Cate had stooped and picked up the pile of mail. She was now casually sorting through it, throwing the junk mail back on the floor and moving the pieces of interest under her arm. She came across an invitation and opened it up.

Dean noticed the smirk that crossed Cate's face and asked, "What is that?"

"Oh, it's just an invitation to my 6 year high-school reunion," replied Cate nonchalantly.

"What?" questioned Dean a sly grin creeping slowly across his face.

"Yeah, you know that thing that happens 6 years after you graduate where everyone gets together to brag about what they have down since high school," drawled Cate the sarcasm dripping from her voice.

"I know what it is," snapped Dean. "I just didn't think you would be the type to be tracked down."

"What do you mean 'tracked down'? I've lived in this house practically my whole life, excluding the time I spent at University and on the road. It is the house of my fore-fathers and it's been in my family for generations, sending the mail here isn't exactly tracking me down," laughed Cate.

"Whatever," grumbled Dean, "It's just weird for people that do what we do to have something that normal in their lives."

"I think you should go," said Sam entering the conversation.

"Yeah, and say what exactly, that I've been hunting ghosts and all manner of spawn from hell since graduating. That would go over well," scoffed Cate.

"I don't know, put a spin on the truth and go anyway. Who knows, it might be fun," pressed Sam.

"Yeah well, even if I was thinking of going I don't have a date and that would just be lame," said Cate, quickly making up an excuse, any excuse not to go, but it was just so darn hard to resist Sam and his innocent encouragement.

"Take me or Dean," said Sam.

At this Cate caved. She felt like she would be kicking a puppy if she said no to Sam and the truth of the matter was that she wanted to go and feel normal, even if it was just for the couple of hours she was at the events.

"Fine, I'll go."

Cate told the boys that they could go dump their bags in the rooms that they had used last time and that they could drop the sheets covering the furniture and their own dirty laundry down the laundry shoot in the hallway. They made their way up the stairs and left Cate alone with her thoughts. Her mind couldn't help but drift back to her high school days when she had lied to everyone about where she went on weekends and why she would miss so much school. It wasn't just that: it was the time when she had felt balanced.

In high school she had had time for her social, academic and hunting lives. She didn't feel the need to pick between hunting and being normal. It changed when she went to college, always feeling like she had to choose and now, well now, she didn't really have anything else in her life besides hunting. Sure she had friends, who she would visit when she passed through their towns, but she was always there because of business and the hunt always took first priority.

She continued sorting through the mail and stumbled upon several slips for packages that had to be picked up at the post-office. She placed them on the table and made her way to the library. Once there she pulled the sheet covering the desk and found that John had been there. On the desk were several folders thrown haphazardly, with the dates of the hunt on them. Cate sighed; it was always extra work when John dropped off his stuff. She had sift through John's hastily scribbled notes and make sense of it. Her notes of her hunts with Sam and Dean over the past few months were no big deal because she kept them neat as they were made; John didn't really take much time to do that, but she knew that sorting through all his records was part of her job and her family's business. She cast another glance at the files and decided that she would do them later. She grabbed her own and placed them in a drawer of the filing cabinet and labeled it _"Cate Miller, Sam and Dean Winchester: 2006-"_

Cate stepped back and looked at the drawer. A small smile crept across her lips and she realized how good it felt to finally have some one to hunt with.

"Hey, there you are. What are you looking at?" asked Dean, suddenly appearing in the doorway and causing Cate to jump. "You okay? I didn't scare you did I?" grinned Dean.

"No, just startled," said Cate in a small voice. "I was just putting our files away and I found some file that your dad must have dropped off not to long ago."

"Really and how do you know that?" inquired Dean waking up to stand beside Cate.

"Because he dates his files and this one was from two weeks ago," Cate said, holding up a file and opening it. She began to flip through it and Dean leaned over and looked over her shoulder. He leaned in so that Cate could feel the heat that was radiating off of his body. She inhaled rather sharply at the realization of how very close he really was, but this only served to enforce his closeness. She could smell his distinct scent: slightly musty from traveling in a car for the past few days, the light scent of his after-shave and the leather from his coat mixed in with the overall smell of him. It was a rugged, manly scent and Cate couldn't help but marvel at how good he really did smell.

Dean wasn't unawares as to how close he was to Cate either. He could feel he tense up as an automatic reaction and he also felt the heat from her body and took in her scent. She smelled clean, for lack of a better word, Dean thought. He could smell the last traces of her shampoo lightly and he wondered how exactly she could smell so good after days of traveling in a car. She smelled of mangos and some other fruit he couldn't identify and it made him want to kiss all over her flawless skin and see if she tasted as good as she smelled.

"Um, Dean…" murmured Cate turning around to face him and pulling back slightly.

"Yeah," mumbled Dean locking eyes with her. He so wanted to lean forward and capture her lips with his, which was odd for Dean. It wasn't that he wanted to kiss an attractive woman, but that all he wanted to do was kiss her. He for some odd reason that would be enough to sate his craving and that he didn't need anything more.

After a moment of silence Cate finally sputtered out, "I need to go to the post-office. I'm going to get some groceries and basic supplies: while I'm out is there anything you want or need?"

Dean desperately wanted to answer 'you' to Cate's question, but refrained and muttered, "Maybe some razor blades and some shaving cream."

"Okay, I'm going to go ask Sam if he needs anything. I should be back in an hour or two," said Cate and she walked away from Dean, leaving him standing alone in the library.

Cate left the house with a few more items on her list, courtesy of Sam, but knowing exactly what she had to get. She drove into town and parked her car near the local market and the area of town known for its interesting little shops. She had stopped by the post-office and picked up three packages of varying sizes and then moved on to getting some fresh produce and meat at the local market. It was fall and all of the crops were being harvested. Cate had made sure to bring a cart and some it was nearly full: it had been a long time since she and the boys had eaten anything other than diner food and she was going to make sure they had good, home-cooked meals for the next few days. That was when she spotted two things: one her favorite fruit and the other was the day's date on the paper.

"Oh shit," murmured Cate quietly, realizing what tomorrow was. She now needed to make a few more stops, she thought. She glanced down at the paper again and noticed the headline for the first time. It read: "Woman Dies Mysteriously" above a picture of a woman who looked vaguely familiar. Cate picked up the paper and several pieces of the fruit, wondering as to who the woman might be, and paid for he items. She moved quickly back to her car and drove around picking up the few things she needed.

Arriving back at the house, Cate took care not to be heard by either of the boys. She dropped the food off in the kitchen and quietly and quickly snuck upstairs, using the back staircase, to her room. There she deposited her packages on her bed and slowly opened the parcels from the post-office. She found that two out of the three were from John: one for her and the other was for Dean. She left the one for Dean in its second layer of wrapping, but opened the one for her. It came with a card, which she quickly read, smiling in a sad sort of way. Opening the package she found that it was a guitar and her eyes lit up with joy. A small squeal of joy escaped her lips and she picked up the beautiful instrument, strumming a few practice chords to warm up her long out of practice fingers.

Down the hall in his room, Sam heard the noise wandered down the hall, stopping in Cate's doorway. Not noticing Sam, Cate started to play the opening of a slow, mournful tune, and then she opened she mouth and sang along to the tune she was extracting from the instrument on her lap. Her voice was sad as was only fitting to the song:

_Walked around my good intentions  
And found out there were none  
I blame my father for the wasted years  
We hardly talked  
Never thought I would forget this hate  
And a phone call made me realize I'm wrong _

And if I don't make it known that  
I loved you all along  
Just like sunny days that  
We ignored because  
We're both dumb and jaded  
And I hope to God I figure out what's wrong

Walked around my room not thinking  
Sinking in this box  
Blame myself for being too much like  
Somebody else  
I never thought I would just bend this way  
Then a phone call made me realize I'm wrong

And if I don't make it known that  
I loved you all along  
Just like sunny days that  
We ignored because  
We're all dumb and jaded  
And I hope to God I figure out what's wrong

And if I don't make it known that  
I loved you all along  
Just like sunny days that  
We ignored because  
We're both dumb and jaded  
And I hope to God I figure out

"Wow," murmured Sam, announcing his presence to Cate as she finished the song.

She snapped out of her trance, "You Winchester boys have got to stop doing that," chuckled Cate, slightly embarrassed about being caught singing.

"That was beautiful," said Sam voice barely above a whisper. "Do you sing often?" Wait, he thought, why was he asking that, he had known her for months now and had never heard her sing.

"Only when I think no one is listening," smiled Cate, "Anyway, it isn't my song or anything. I just, kind of like it."

"Well, I think you sang it beautifully," murmured Sam sheepishly. Thinking back on the lyrics Sam thought how well they really fit him and how well the radiant creature before him had perfectly captured his thoughts and his feelings in that one song.

"Let's go get supper ready," suggested Cate, quickly changing the subject.

"Yeah," agreed Sam, too lost in his in thoughts to really say anything else.

Cate returned to the kitchen with Sam trailing behind her silently and in a sort of daze. She started to unpack the food she had purchased at the market, putting away what she didn't need. The silence wasn't awkward but calming; it was like going for a walk in the rain: not what everyone would like to do, but soothing all the same. Sam just stood by the big counter in the center of the kitchen and stared off into space. After what seemed like such a long time Cate broke the silence, "Do you want to help me cook dinner?"

"Um, I'm not really much of a cook," muttered Sam.

"Oh well, then why don't you take a shower and clean up?" Cate suggested.

"Sounds good," said Sam and he wandered off, still lost in his own little world.

Cate set to work preparing the vegetables for the meal and was rinsing them in the sink when Dean strolled through the kitchen door. He was running his hands through his fresh-out-of-the-shower hair and greeted Cate with a nod of his head, asking, "What are we having for supper?"

"Steak, vegetables, a green salad and cheese-cake for dessert," replied Cate, placing the carrots that she had been rinsing behind her on the cutting board. She grabbed the green beans and turned her back to Dean.

"Sounds good," commented Dean as he walked over to the counter and started expertly chopping the carrots, much to the surprise of Cate.

"Since when did you know how to cook?" Cate asked, incredulous.

"Since I was 10, me and Sam were staying with t his friend of my dad's for a month or two while Dad was away hunting and she said that if I was going to be the one taking care of Sammy I needed to know how to cook him something other than Spaghetti-O's. There is a lot you don't know about me Cate," said Dean in his usual cocky manner, but there was something a little more sincere about his final statement.

"Yeah, like up until this point I had no idea what you looked like without stubble," joked Cate, noticing that for the first time in all the months she had known him Dean he had taken the time to shave properly.

"I thought it was time you saw a different side of me," countered Dean, laughing along with Cate.

As she finished rinsing the vegetables, she dried her hands on a dish cloth and moved to stand beside Dean: "It makes you look younger, more innocent," laughed Cate, running her hand along Dean's smooth and soft cheek, feeling it warm under the touch of her chilled finger tips. At the coolness of her touch Dean instinctively moved his hand up to hers and grabbed her fingers.

"You're cold," muttered Dean.

"Thank you Captain Obvious," Cate chuckled, "Now would you give me my hand back?"

Dean instantly let go of her hand and muttering sorry. They continued in relative silence for a while, with only the occasional direction as to what to do with the ingredients. Cate found herself filled with a nervous energy and sought to release it: she walked across the kitchen to a cabinet which she opened to reveal a small stereo. She popped in a mix CD and waited to see exactly what would play. Dean glanced over with mild interest as "Summer in the City" by Loving Spoonfuls floated out of the speakers. Instinctively Cate began to sway with the music: sauntering back over to the stove, she where she was cooking the vegetables, she began to mouth the words.

"Why do you do that?" asked Dean.

"Do what?"

"Dance and sing, it seems whenever you listen to music you get just a little bit distracted and coming from you, miss "we can't afford distractions", it's a little weird," rambled Dean.

"Isn't that what music is supposed to be: a distraction?" Cate shot back at Dean, "And besides I'm still fully alert."

"Sure you are," muttered Dean, returning his attention to the steak he was preparing.

"Whatever," said Cate, resuming cooking and dancing. Five more songs passed before either of the two made a move. In an instant Dean was behind Cate with one hand wrapped securely around her waist and the other around her throat.

"So, 'fully alert' are you?" smirked Dean.

"Yes, my guard is just down because I don't really expect you to attack me," murmured Cate, "And you can be distracted to."

"Really, how's that?" said Dean loosening his grip on Cate's neck and waist, but still not letting go.

"Simple," said Cate, and she began to move slowly against Dean to the music drifting lazily out of the stereo. Dean groaned inwardly and loosened his grip further, allowing his other hand to drift down to Cate's waist. She danced slowly, turning around and pressing the length of her body against his. He knew that he should keep his focus, not let her win this undeclared battle of wills, but he couldn't help himself: it felt so good. Cate moved slowly behind Dean and suddenly grabbed his arm and flipped him to the ground: quickly straddling him and pinning his body in place, she leaned down and whispered in Dean's ear, "That was almost too easy."

She got up off of him, leaving him lying sore and slightly disappointed on the floor. He knew that nothing would happen, but who can fault wishful thinking. He stood up and looked at Cate who had returned to her cooking, "You are a wicked tease, you know that?" grumbled Dean.

"That's what makes me so fun," retorted Cate.

"And what is that?" asked Sam as he walked through the door of the kitchen.

"Nothing," mumbled Cate, suddenly embarrassed.

"What are you cooking? It smells great," Sam asked Cate.

"Do I not get any credit for this meal?" demanded Dean.

"No you don't because you are merely my helper, while I prepped most of the food and have seasoned all of it," laughed Cate. A look of mock pain passed across Dean's face and Cate pouted at him, "Aw poor baby sad because he didn't get any of the credit?"

Cate stepped forward and ruffled his hair causing Dean to grin, "I stand by my earlier statement."

"Whatever, dinner is ready," said Cate, putting the food into its respective dishes with a flourish.

The trio spent the next hour lingering over diner before getting up, clearing the table and heading their separate ways. Dean said he was going to go clean his guns and Sam announced he was going for a walk. Cate decided that she would get to work on organizing John's file and made her way to the library. She sat there for what seemed like hours pouring over the files. "Man, John has really crappy hand-writing," thought Cate, squinting her eyes at the piece of paper in front of her. She looked over at her "done pile" and sighed heavily when she looked at her "to-do pile". Lastly she looked at the clock and realized that it was nearing mid-night. Her thoughts began to drift and they settled on what had happened earlier in the kitchen. Why had she done that? In retro-spec it didn't really seem like all that good of an idea – no use in giving Dean ideas – but at the time it had seemed like the right thing to do and while she was doing it, well, let's not go there.

"Hey, you still up?" asked Sam appearing in the doorway, as the Winchesters had a habit of doing.

"What? Hey, don't do that, you startled me," said Cate embarrassed as if Sam could read her thoughts. "Yeah, I guess I just lost track of time. What about you?" asked Cate noticing that he was in a t-shirt and boxers.

"Couldn't sleep and I was a bit restless, I was wandering around when I saw the light on in here."

"Oh, well you can help me with this if you want to," offered Cate tossing one of the files towards Sam.

"Sure, it would be nice to know exactly what my dad has been up to the past few months," grumbled Sam.

Sam made himself comfortable and Cate, growing increasingly uncomfortable at the desk moved and sat beside him. They worked for the longest time in silence until Sam looked over at Cate and found that she had fallen asleep with her head on his shoulder. Sam tried to move away, but Cate merely moved closer and gripped the front of his shirt. Giving up, Sam arranged himself so that he was more comfortable and then draped the blanket from the back of the chesterfield over himself and Cate. He closed his eyes and sleep claimed him almost immediately.

Cate woke early the next morning to find herself lying on top of Sam. She moved slowly so as not to wake him and was almost off the sofa when she heard Sam give a light laugh.

"Hey that tickles," mumbled Sam as Cate's hair trailed over his bare arm.

"I had no idea that you were so sensitive," Cate joked.

"I bet you are too," grinned Sam.

"Nope sorry about that," laughed Cate.

"Are you so sure," challenged Sam as he grabbed her wrists and pulled Cate under him and started tickling her sides. Cate tried to keep a straight face but broke out in fits of laughter.

"Okay, I'm ticklish, now stop!" pleaded Cate through her laughter.

"What is the magic word?" Sam asked playfully.

"Dean?" said Cate looking of Sam's shoulder at the doorway.

"Dean, what?" questioned Sam, looking confused and then glancing behind him, "Oh."

Dean woke up late that morning and wandered downstairs. He was making his way towards the kitchen when he heard noise coming from the library and he headed there, hoping to find Cate and Sam; however, the sight that he was greeted with was not what he had expected. He saw Sam pinning Cate to the couch and from this angle it didn't look all that innocent. He heard his name called and it snapped him out of the sea of rage and jealousy he was feeling.

"I leave you crazy kids alone for one minute and you are all over each other," said Dean trying to laugh it off.

"Dean, it's not what it looks like," began Cate feeling the need to explain what was going on, "Sam just found out that I was ticklish and being the tormentor that he is, was torturing me."

With that Cate extracted herself from underneath Sam and moved toward the door: "I'm going to go take a shower now. There is food in the kitchen for breakfast," said Cate sheepishly slipping out the door past Dean.

"You might want to make that a cold shower," whispered Dean as she passed.

Cate reached her bathroom and turned on the shower. Stepping inside she slumped against the wall and let the warm water cascade down her body. She was so confused about something she shouldn't be: Sam and Dean. At first they were just fellow hunters, then her partners and her friends, but what did she feel for them now. Her actions over the past 24-hours confused her. Made it was just that she hadn't been with a guy since Adam and she was getting lonely…yeah… that had to be it she thought. She would just carry on as if nothing ever happened and with that decided she quickly finished showering, got out, toweled off and got dressed.

Looking around her room she noticed the discarded paper from yesterday and the invitation to her 6 year high school reunion. "Who has an six year reunion?" Cate asked herself, "'The class of '98, six years later' I bet one of those bubbled headed debutants thought of this." And then it hit her who the woman with the mysterious death was: she was the head-cheerleader at her high-school.

"Head cheerleader is now dead cheerleader," Cate thought humorlessly to herself.

"I'll deal with that later, the dead can wait," continued Cate to herself, "The living, on the other hand, need a little more attention." She crept down the stairs and out the back door toward the garage.

It was almost two hours after Dean had found Sam and Cate on the couch and nearly an hour and thirty minutes since he had heard the water stop running from Cate's shower. "Where is she?" he thought to himself. Then without a word to Sam, he slipped out the door to get some fresh air and clear his head. Seeing Sam with Cate like that had caused a wave of jealousy to rush over him: why couldn't have been him and why today, of all days, did he have to see his little brother on top of the woman with whom he wanted to be in that position? Suddenly, pulled out of his thoughts by a noise from the garage, he moved toward the large double doors and peered in. The sight that greeted his widened eyes was something that he had never expected to see: Cate washing his beloved car.

"What are you doing?" asked Dean, slightly bewildered.

"Washing your car, what does it look like?" retorted Cate.

"Yeah, but why?"

"Because, you moron, it is your birthday and as far as I can tell you love this car more than life itself and it badly needed to be cleaned," Cate laughed. "It was supposed to be a surprise, but you ruined it, so happy birthday!"

"If this is my birthday present then shouldn't you be doing this in a bikini with me watching holding a cold beer?" inquired Dean.

"It is November you perv. I'd freeze and besides it is only part of your gift, the other half is inside and wrapped," said Cate.

"Really, and what is that?" pressed Dean, with a tone that suggested more than it should have, moving closer to Cate.

"You really need to get your mind out of the gutter, you know that?" laughed Cate.

"Or maybe you need to join me in the gutter," Dean suggested raising his eyebrow.

"I think I know what you need now," said Cate.

"And what exactly is that?"

"A cold shower," quipped Cate, blasting Dean with freezing water from the hose that she was hold.

"Bitch!" shouted Dean, laughter at the edge of his voice. He moved forward and tried to wrestle the hose away from Cate. After a prolonged struggle, the two hunters lay exhausted and laughing on the hood of the newly cleaned Impala.

"You are crazy, you know?" gasped Dean, out of breath.

"And you are very definite about who I am. I'm a 'wicked tease' and crazy: what else am I, Dean?" joked Cate.

"Hot," began Dean only to be punched in the shoulder, "Strong, smart, thoughtful and oh so complicated."

"Well, that is a back-handed compliment if I ever heard one," muttered Cate sitting up.

"Would you prefer to be simple?" Dean asked, sitting up after her.

"I suppose not," Cate said with a thoughtful look on her face, "Well, I don't know about you, but I am freezing. Let's go get out of these wet clothes."

"Sure thing, I'd be glad to help you with that," smirked Dean.

"Really mind out of the gutter, it may be your birthday, but don't push your luck," answered Cate a small smile playing at the corners of her mouth.

"It was worth a try," smiled Dean and with that they got up and headed toward the house, a cool breeze whipped at their wet bodies and Cate started to shiver. Dean put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her to him. Much to his surprise she didn't pull away, but instead moved without resistance.

Cate mumbled, "How is it that I drench you with cold water and you are still warm?"

"It's 'cause I'm so very hot," replied Dean just as they reached the door. Cate pulled away from him and walked through the door. "Now I do believe that you said something about a present," inquired Dean following Cate.

"Aren't you impatient," said Cate, "I need to go get changed but when I return it will be with your present. I would suggest that you get changed too, before you catch a cold."

Cate went upstairs and quickly changed into a heavy sweater and jeans. She grabbed the brightly wrapped package and the smaller package wrapped in brown paper that she had received in the mail for Dean. She was walking down the hallway toward Dean's room when she bumped into Sam. He took one look at the packages in her arms and breathed out, "Oh shit! How could I forget?"

"You forgot your brother's birthday?" questioned Cate.

"Yeah, well there has been a lot on my mind lately and I lost track of the date," explained Sam, looking rather sheepish. "Hey, can I borrow a car and head into town?"

"Sure, but please hurry," Cate said, completely shocked that Sam had forgotten his brother's birthday.

Sam raced off down the stairs and Cate continued down the hall and stopped outside Dean's room. She knocked lightly on the door and she heard Dean moving toward the door. The knob turned and Dean opened the door just as he was pulling on his shirt.

"This is prompt service," said Dean grinning.

"Happy birthday, Dean," expressed Cate as she handed Dean both of the packages.

"What is this?" exclaimed Dean, looking at the brightly wrapped present covered in ribbon.

"My present to you, the other one is from your dad. I got it in the mail," answered Cate.

"I've never gotten a present quite so well wrapped," laughed Dean, stepping back into his room and sitting down in one of the chairs

"Well, I'm glad I could be your first," joked Cate, moving to sit in the other chair.

Dean laughed and slowly opened the package, he looked inside the box and found it filled with CDs. He looked up at Cate quizzically and then back at the box.

"It is ever cassette tape you own in CD form as well as some that I thought that you might like that are a bit newer than the 'mullet-rock', as Sam likes to call it. I also threw in a portable CD player that you can plug into the tape deck of the Impala," explained Cate.

"Thanks, this is really nice," said Dean, surprised by the amount of thought Cate had put into his gift.

"You're welcome and now you can blast the music with greater clarity just to irritate Sam," laughed Cate.

Dean laughed and then cast a glance at the package that his dad had sent him, almost not wanting to open it. It looked so plain compared to the brightly colored package that Cate had given him. It was like all the other presents that he had received as a child, dull and boring. He reached for the package and slowly opened it. Inside was a large hunting knife with a small charm wrapped around the hilt and a note from his father. It read:

_Dean,_

_I'm sorry I couldn't be there for your birthday, happy 27th. I hope you get this in time for the actual day. I hope you put the knife to good use; it is silver and was blessed by a priest. The charm is a protective amulet and a strong one. Stay safe and look out for Cate and Sam._

_Dad._

Dean just looked down at the gift with disappointment. Cate noticed this and put a hand on his shoulder: "Hey Dean, you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," said Dean shaking off his disappointment. He picked up the knife and removed the amulet and attached it to the cord around his neck with the other charm. "Wonder what the amulet does? It looks like a cat or something."

"It protects you against psychic interference," said Cate simply.

"And how do you know that?" asked Dean.

At that Cate reached under her sweater and pulled out the long chain that she always wore with the end of it under her shirt so that Dean had never seen all of it. He could now see that the end was filled with several charms. "I know because I have one," explained Cate plucking the amulet in question out of the clump.

"Where did you get all of these?" asked Dean, looking at the others on the chain.

"Presents from your dad, he seems to think I need all the protection I can get," muttered Cate. "It's a blessed silver chain too."

Dean looked over the collection and spotted a pentagram, a cross, a scarab, the cat one, a Celtic knot and a triqueta. "A triqueta, really, so what stage are you on?" inquired Dean.

"Life," said Cate simply.

"Not the stages I meant," countered Dean.

"Oh, you want to know the virgin, mother or crone version of things," responded Cate, "Well, that is none of your business."

"That's no fun," pouted Dean.

"Maybe I'm no fun," suggested Cate.

"No, I don't think so," smirked Dean.

"Whatever, I'm going to go get some lunch, you in?"

"Sure, and thanks for the CDs and stuff."

"No problem, I'm glad you liked them," smiled Cate.

"There is one other thing I would like for my birthday," Dean said raising his eyebrow suggestively.

"If you are thinking what I'm thinking then I'm sorry to disappoint, but no," responded Cate in a light manner.

"No that would be more of a present for you."

"More like a curse really," laughed Cate.

Cate got up and walked out of the room, making sure to sway her hips slightly as she walked because she knew Dean would be watching. Sure it was cruel to the boy to let him think he had a chance, when Cate was definitely not going to let that happen, but it was so easy. She headed down to the kitchen and started to prepare the last thing for Dean's birthday celebration: Cate could hear the music blasting from the stereo in Dean's room all the while. Almost two hours later Sam crept through the kitchen door, carrying a bag filled with tissue. Spotting Cate he jumped in surprise, "What are you doing?" demanded Sam in a shocked tone and at the same time trying to regain some of his composure.

"I'm battling the evil demon of the culinary arts," scoffed Cate, "What does it look like I'm doing? I'm frosting Dean's cake."

Sam's face registered minor shock and he asked, "Did you bake that?"

"Yes and why do you seem so shocked?"

"I don't know, it just doesn't seem like a thing you would know how to do," mumbled Sam.

"Yeah well I do," replied Cate, "Hey taste this and tell me how it is," demanded Cate, holding forth her finger which was covered in a large dollop of icing. Without really thinking about it, Sam leaned forward and licked it off of her finger. His soft, wet mouth closed over her finger and a small shiver of pleasure passed down her spine. His clever tongue flicked forward wiping her skin clean and passing its warmth to her. As, quickly as he done it, Sam realized what exactly it was that he was doing and stopped. He drew back and a sheepish glance passed between the two.

"It's good," mumbled Sam.

"I'm glad you like it," responded Cate, slightly flustered from the incident.

"I'd better go find Dean," said Sam, indicating the present in his hand with a quick motion of his hand.

"Yeah, that would be a good idea," agreed Cate, not really having anything else to say. Sam left the room and Cate just about melted to the floor. Today was not turning out to be a good day, she thought and resumed frosting the cake. She finished with the icing and licked the last little bit of icing off the knife and couldn't help but think of Sam. What was she thinking, flaunting her, for lack of a better word, assets to Dean and thinking a bit too hard about Sam's mouth – which then lead to consideration of the other brothers mouth – she was in over her head on this one. She really needed to get laid, she thought to herself, to get rid of this repressed sexual energy. Of course that was all it was she reassured herself, repressed sexual energy, nothing more, nothing less.

She looked at the doorway and wondered why Dean was still up in his room when she had offered him lunch and had left to go get it. When he hadn't shown up after fifteen minutes she had put the sandwich in the fridge and forgotten about it, choosing instead to make the cake. Storing the leftover icing in the fridge, she spotted the long forgotten sandwich and decided to take it up to Dean. She also grabbed some of the fruit she had bought at the market and made her way up to Dean's room hoping to find him there. She peeked her head in the door way and found that the room was devoid of the living. She did however notice, what must have been Sam's gift to Dean, a small book of exorcisms and cleansing spells. Cate rolled her eyes at this. Was it not possible for the Winchester men to give gifts that didn't relate to hunting? Leaving this behind her Cate wandered down the hallway, not really knowing where to look. She was given a clue when felt a draft blow down the hall from the stairway to the attic. Plate in hand, she made her way up the stairs to the attic and found Dean peering intently at the vast array of weaponry stored in the first room of the attic.

"If you wanted to see the attic all you had to do was ask and I would have given you a tour," said Cate startling Dean slightly.

"Oh, I was just walking by and curiosity got the better of me," replied Dean. "This place is amazing."

"This is just the entrance, the things I would need the most and the quickest, the other rooms are filled with the really interesting stuff: antique weapons, guns, protective shit and loads of other crap. How did you get in here anyway? The door is kept locked," answered Cate, extending her hand to offer the sandwich to Dean. He gratefully accepted and took a large bite before answering her.

"I picked the lock," grinned Dean.

Cate just rolled her eyes and scoffed, "Figures."

Dean looked slightly offended, but proceeded to take another bite of his sandwich.

"You still want a tour," asked Cate.

"Sure," said Dean, between bites. Cate started down the narrow corridor and Dean took the opportunity to check her out. Damn, she looked good walking away. He followed her and she stopped by the first two doors and opened the one on the right. This revealed more guns and a wall filled with various forms of blades.

"The rooms on the right are mostly weapons and other hunting stuff, the ones one the left are records and then household stuff farther back. The corridor branches out further down and extends over the east and the west wings of the house, but it becomes two very large rooms: one used to store furniture and the other was used as a training space for hunters back in the day."

"What do you use the room for now?" inquired Dean, looking up from his inspection of the weapons.

"Now that the demand for training to become a hunter has dropped it is just unused space. All the stuff, books, fake weapons, targets, the like, lie there covered in dust, memories of a forgotten past," sighed Cate, her voice thick with feigned emotion. "I've also stored some stuff in the corner of the room. Its mostly junk from university, but it's there because I didn't want to have to store it in one of these little ones for fear I'd forget where I put it and never be able to find it again."

"Neat," said Dean.

"You know if you take this long on every room then we will be here well past midnight," smiled Cate, as Dean continued to study the instruments.

"Fine, I'm done here. On to the next," replied Dean.

The pattern of Cate showing Dean one room and explaining what everything in it was, continued until they reached the two larger rooms. Dean took one look in the storage room and quickly decided that it wasn't worth further investigation. He turned his attention to the open door through which Cate had just disappeared. He walked in looked around in complete awe. The room was huge, probably 40' x 30' with a fairly high ceiling in the center, compared to the rest of the attic. There was a perimeter of 8' in which a desk and two tables were positioned near a full bookcase; several racks filled with practice weapons of all kinds, both standing and hanging on the wall; and a variety of chairs benches and targets were spread here and there. The center of the room had a padded floor and Dean could tell that it had been used for physical training. The most amazing thing, however was the bare wall at the far end of the room: it was covered in a map of the world and there were lines, symbols and writing covering it that on closer inspection, Dean found to be tracing the migration of demons all over the world and hunters following them. It also had colored areas located in different places, which upon consulting the legend would reveal the territory of various organized hunting groups. Dean stood and marveled at this for awhile, running his hand over the picture. Cate came up to stand beside him and Dean turned to look at her.

"It was last updated over a hundred years ago at the last hunters meeting held here. In those days people would come from all over and report to my family. They kept a record of everything and were in touch with other families and organizations around the world that were like them. They traced the patterns of the demons and trained others to fight the good fight, if you want to put it like that. The house was made so large to accommodate all the people passing through. It was a good time for hunters – lots of back up – but then some of the demons got organized and started attacking the hunters and their families. They would over power them and then move on to the next. In those days word didn't travel nearly as fast and many of the prominent families were taken out before anyone could organize. Some people dropped out of the game fearing for their loved ones well-being and others died fighting. Of course no alliance among demons last very long and in-fighting started before long, but the damage was done; the hunters' numbers were deflated and communication all but stopped because so many messengers were killed. And that's how all this fell apart and why we're almost all alone in fighting the evil of the world," recounted Cate, the sorrow for the loss of what once was.

Dean stared at the map with a newfound respect for those who came before him and a sense of reverence for being able to bear witness to one of the remaining symbols of that glory. They just stood there, in the dust filled room, for a while, standing in front of the map transfixed by it. Finally Dean looked away and glanced to the corner where Cate had been standing when she had entered the room. He saw there a few small boxes, stacked and labeled very neatly. Cate moved back from the wall and plopped herself on the dusty edge of the padded floor near the door. Dean watched her pull a red fruit out of her pocket and crack it open to reveal small, red seeds. Dean caught the scent of the fruit and realized that it was the unidentified odor that he had smelled just yesterday, when he had been standing close to her in the library.

"What's that?" asked Dean, sitting down next to Cate.

"It's a pomegranate, my favorite kind of fruit," replied Cate, popping a few of the seeds into her mouth and sucking the juice out of them before swallowing.

"Hmmm."

"Did you want to try one?" asked Cate taking the not so subtle hint.

"Sure, if you insist," answered Dean. Cate handed Dean a few of the glistening, crimson seeds and he carefully tasted them. They were sweet, but not too sweet, "They are good," Dean thought.

"So, do you like it?" questioned Cate when Dean's silence began to grate on her nerves.

"Yeah."

"Good, the only thing about eating them is that they are awfully messy," said Cate, absentmindedly sucking on the end of her fingers.

Dean watched her and groaned inwardly. He didn't think he would ever see the day, but at this very moment he was jealous of her finger-tips. Of course it made perfect sense if he thought about it: she was sitting here finger-tips in her mouth and they could just as freely trace over every inch of her flawless skin. As quickly as this thought had come over him, he realized he was staring and quickly glanced over at the stack of boxes. He noticed a small one whose title didn't really fit with the others and walked over to look at it.

"'Fun' now this doesn't sound like you," grinned Dean over his shoulder.

A look of horror passed over Cate's face and she was off the ground and trying to grab the box from him in an instant: "Dean, don't look in that box. Give it to me," she demanded, attempting to reach for it, but Dean had positioned himself so that she couldn't get at it.

"No, I think I will look," smirked Dean and he opened the box. The contents were much different than anything he had imagined, but not that he minded, "I'll say this is fun," said Dean holding up a shear, lace bustier, one of the many items of lingerie in the box.

Cate took the opportunity to snatch the box back from him: "I told you not to look," snapped Cate.

"But now I know and I'm a little confused. I never thought you were the whip and handcuffs kind," smiled Dean referring to some of the other items in the box.

"I'm not. I didn't buy this stuff, my friends bought it for me for my engagement party," explained Cate.

"Wait, you're engaged and you bring this up now?" asked Dean thoroughly shocked and disappointed.

"No, I was," shot Cate, "It's over now."

And with that she dropped the box and hurried out of the room, leaving Dean confused and alone.

When Dean found Cate again she was in the library with papers spread in front of her and her eyes rapidly passing over the screen of the lap top. He was hesitant to talk to her after what happened in the attic but he knew he had to apologize. He stepped into the room and Cate lifted her head from the computer, raising the pen in her hand to her mouth and rolling it along her lip. Dean saw this and the feeling from the attic returned, only now he was jealous of a pen. His mind wandered for a moment only to be snapped back to reality and scolded for fantasizing.

"Hey, look, Cate" began Dean, "I'm sorry for earlier in the attic. I shouldn't have looked through your stuff."

Cate looked at him and smiled wryly: "Thanks, but I shouldn't have freaked out like that either. Who were you to know what was in that box? 'Fun' is a very vague title: it could have been anything, board games, books…."

"Guns, liquor…" suggested Dean.

"Now why would I keep liquor in a dusty corner of my attic?" questioned Cate, before adding to the list of possibilities, "Music, old photos of fun events …"

"Practically anything besides sexy lingerie," laughed Dean just as Sam walked through the door.

"I feel like I've missed a vital part of this conversation," remarked Sam, a thoroughly confused look plaster to his face.

Cate and Dean both just looked at him and burst out laughing. It was several moments before either of them could say anything, finally Dean managed to nod his head and say, "Yeah, buddy, you really did," before breaking down into laughter again.

They pair finally quieted and Dean asked, "So, what exactly is it that you are researching?"

"The death of one of my former class mates," responded Cate, regaining her composure, "She mysteriously dropped dead the other day of what appears to be smoke inhalation, but she was running in the park at the time. Weird right?"

"Yeah, weird," confirmed Sam.

"So, I was looking at the newspapers web-site this morning and found that another one of my classmates had kicked the bucket in a similar fashion, so I'm thinking there has to be a connection. The pair were friends in high-school, but went to different Universities and moved to different towns. I called up one of my old buddies who knew them and she said that the second victim didn't keep in touch with any one from high school. This lead me to thinking it must be related to high school, with the reunion coming up and all, so I did some research. I found out that no one from our grad-class has died in a fire or smoke related manner since graduation, so it probably isn't a ghost. So now I'm searching for fire/smoke demons and other stuff that would target a specific group of people," explained Cate.

"Wow, that really puts a damper on the party," sighed Dean.

"Now, I guess we both have to go," said Sam, shooting a glance at Dean, "What do you have so far?"

"Not, much there are few options, but all involve summoning and I don't know of anyone in my class who had that sort of knowledge or area of interest," groaned Cate leaning her head on her open palms.

"Well, then maybe we should find out how much some of your classmates have changed," said Dean.

The rest of Dean's birthday passed uneventful and without incident. They ate supper, cake and drank coffee, chatting aimlessly the whole time. Nothing more about hunting was mentioned and they enjoyed a short period of relative normalcy. Dean didn't realize until he was heading up to bed how great the evening had really been: no talk of hunting or demons and curses had been nice for a change. It had been something out of the ordinary for him, but completely normal at the same time: it was exactly what he had criticized Sam for wanting and here he was enjoying so much himself. But then again it was the first really normal thing he had experienced since he was four: minus the time spent in the library, it had been a hunting free day, Cate had given him a normal gift, cooked him a normal meal and made the day about him and what he wanted and liked. She had made his birthday special and one of the best days of his life and now that he thought about it: it wasn't anything special in the perspective of the general population, but to him it was one of the nicest things anyone had ever done for him – not that he would ever, or could ever, tell her, his pride wouldn't let him.

Sam too was thinking about Cate and all that she had done for Dean that day. To him it was a show of her kindness and her caring spirit. She had made such an effort today to make Dean happy and give him something that was far removed from hunting and what did his own brother do? Forget Dean's birthday, but that was what made Cate special: she noticed things and made mental notes. She was so thoughtful and would do so much for the people she cared about and Sam felt privileged to be in her life at all.

Both boys fell asleep contented as Cate contemplated the day: she had spent time with both of them today and it was good to see them relax, especially Dean. He was always so tense and today he relaxed a bit, from their water fight in the morning, to the time in the attic, just up until she had left him at the door to his room, he had seemed more carefree and the weight that he always seemed to carry had lifted a bit. Sam had also let go of himself a little and had been a little less guarded around her. That morning and later in the kitchen he had gotten close to her in a physical way that Cate didn't really think was likely from what she had seen up to that point. Of course she had been freer today too: she had gotten close to Sam in a physical sense and she had told Dean about her engagement, even if she had been cagey about it he still knew. With these thoughts she was taken by sleep.

Cate tossed and turned in her sleep and woke suddenly, screaming. Cold sweat covered her body and caused her pajamas to cling to her shaking frame. Her breath came in short rapid intervals as she tried to calm herself from the nightmare that haunted her. Suddenly Dean burst through her door, gun in hand. He took a quick look around the room and seeing no immediate threat, lowered his gun.

"What's wrong?" he asked Cate, voice filled with worry.

"Nothing," said Cate, trying unsuccessfully to regain her composure, "It was just a nightmare."

"Are you okay?" pressed Dean showing more concern than Cate would have guessed.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Cate muttered half-heartedly, still shaking from the cold and the nightmare.

Dean walked over and sat down beside her on the bed: "Now why don't I believe that?" he asked a small smile appearing at the corners of his mouth.

Cate let out a half-hearted laugh, but a large shiver racked her body and Dean put an arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer to the warmth of his body.

"And what do you think you are doing?" questioned Cate through chattering teeth, but making no move to pull away.

"Keeping you warm," answered Dean, "Now tell me: what nightmare could possibly cause some one in our line of work to scream bloody murder?"

Cate took a deep breath as if to brace herself for what she was about to say. She didn't look up at Dean, but stared straight ahead and started in a small, quiet voice: "It wasn't so much a dream as a memory. You know that fiancé I told you about? Well, he never knew what I did; he just thought that I was a normal girl who went to visit her sick aunt on the weekends. I shouldn't have lied to him, but I wanted a normal life, or at least part of one, but you know what? You can't have both a normal life and this life. I never told him about the things in the shadows, I never warned him or told him how to defend himself and now…" Cate trailed off, her voice heavy with pain and repressed sorrow. Dean thought that she was going to stop there, but she wiped a tear from her eye and drew a raspy breath: "Now it's his face that haunts my dreams, that look of horror and pain as he died and it's all my fault," said Cate trying to keep her voice level, but failing miserably.

"Shhh," whispered Dean as he pulled Cate closer and rested his head on top of hers.

Cate fell into his chest and something in her finally snapped; she let the tears in her eyes roll down her cheeks and Dean just sat there holding her.

"I couldn't save him, I just didn't get there in time, I shouldn't have left that weekend," murmured Cate. "I shouldn't have been with him at all; it put him in to much danger. And do you know what the worst part is? I didn't even love him."

At this Dean didn't know what to say, but he didn't have to suffer long in his silence.

"I loved the idea of him: something normal. That picket fence and apple pie life that he represented, that's what I wanted or thought I wanted, but I was stupid to want that because I can never have it. I wasn't made for that life," confessed Cate, her voice little more than a whisper.

"No," said Dean, kindness filling his voice, "You could never be stupid and especially not for wanting that life."

"But everything you have ever said to Sam about leaving for college and wanting that life, everything you have ever said about people like us being freaks," responded Cate.

"Yeah, well I lied," sighed Dean. "You aren't wrong for wanting that and neither is Sam. I guess it is time for my confession: I'm afraid of losing Sam, so I tell him that it is wrong to want that and that we can't and shouldn't have it, but I know that it is a lie. I don't want him to go; I want it to be like before Sam went away to college because that is all I've ever known."

"Have you ever wanted a normal life?" Cate asked tentatively, not sure whether or not she'd get an answer.

"Once upon a time…" murmured Dean.

"In a land far, far away," joked Cate.

"Yeah, something like that," Dean whispered into Cate's hair.

They both fell into silent contemplation of their pasts and what had just been revealed about each other. Cate was the first to break the silence when she pulled back slightly from Dean's arms and said to him, "Thank you Dean."

"No problem, what are friends for?" responded Dean, a comforting smile creeping onto his dimly lit face. "Are you going to be okay?"

"Yeah, I think I will. I just need to get some sleep, I think," said Cate.

"Okay, I'll see you in the morning," Dean replied as he removed himself from Cate and stood up. He walked over to the door and glanced over his shoulder to see Cate closing her eyes. He turned and walked out of the door and was nearing his room when hands grabbed him roughly and pulled him into Sam's room. He was shoved against the wall and found himself face to face with a very angry Sam.

"Dean, what do you think you are doing?!" exclaimed Sam, his voice an angry whisper, "Dad told you to stay away from Cate and you couldn't help but make a late night visit to her. What Dean, did you run out of easy waitresses?"

"Dude its not even…" Dean tried to explain, why exactly he was leaving Cate's room in the middle if the night wearing only his boxers.

Sam, however, wasn't about to let him finish: "No, Dad asked you one thing – stay away from her, but you couldn't do that. No, you have to go and fuck up the great thing we have going here and all because you couldn't keep it in your pants. Jesus Christ, Dean! Couldn't you for once in your life show a little restraint, instead of screwing every woman in sight?"

"You know what?!" spat Dean, "I can show some restraint because as much as I want to, I respect Cate to much to sleep with her. Just because I think she is hot and that it might a fun ride doesn't mean I'll have sex with her."

A look of confusion crossed Sam's rage twisted face and he only managed to stutter: "What?"

"I thought you supposed to be the smart one: I didn't have sex with _that_ woman," explained Dean, irritation evident in his voice. "God, I feel like Bill Clinton."

At that Sam let go of his older brother's shoulders and backed away from him confused and a little embarrassed about his quick assumption. "Oh," was all that Sam could manage to say.

"Yeah, oh is right," snapped Dean, "Do you really think I have no self-control? Christ, Sam, sex isn't everything between me and the fairer sex. I can converse with them."

"I'm sorry, Dean. It just seemed…and you usually…so what were you doing anyway?" stuttered Sam.

"We were having a heart to heart if you must know," explained Dean rather impatiently.

"No, really, what were you doing?" pressed Sam.

Dean gestured with his hands and shot Sam that "did you not hear me the first time" look, which only some one who had spent years with the other person would understand.

"Really? Hmm," was all that Sam could say. After a moments contemplation Sam asked Dean, "Why did you go in there in the first place?"

"Because I was awake and I heard her scream: I thought she might be in trouble so I rushed in. She was fine physically, but she seemed a bit shaken, so I stayed and we just talked. That's it, nothing more than words exchanged," Dan said with a serious look in his eyes as he contemplated the night's events.

Sam just stared at his dazed brother and after a few seconds of this Sam became impatient and waved his hand in front of Dean's blank face: "Dude, what did you talk about?"

"I'm not really sure if I should tell you…" began Dean.

"What?" exclaimed Sam in indignant surprise.

"Well, man, it was kind of personal and I don't know if she would want me to tell you," explained Dean.

"What, you are having touchy-feely, chick-flick moments with Cate?" demanded Sam.

"Hey, like I said before there was nothing touchy-feely about it," lied Dean seamlessly, remembering, guiltily, the feeling of her in his arms.

"It's just weird, man: who would have ever guessed that you could talk to a girl without trying to get in her pants?" smiled Sam. "But why can't you tell me? I've known her for just as long and am just as close."

"Yeah, well you learn something knew everyday," sighed Dean and he turned to exit the room, but called back to Sam over his shoulder, "I just think she should tell you herself, I don't want to betray her confidence."

Sam nodded curtly, showing that he understood even if he didn't like it. Just as Dean was about to leave the room Sam couldn't help but add, "Betray her confidence? Dude, she has you whipped."

"Shut up," snapped Dean.

"Whatever," scoffed Sam.

When Dean left, Sam couldn't get back to sleep. All he could think about was how Cate had chosen to tell Dean something and not him. Why didn't Sam deserve to know? He had been there, with Dean, by her side, hunting with her and what's more actually spending time talking to her. However, when she chose to unload some information about her mysterious past she went to Dean. How was that fair? Sam finally fell into a restless sleep, but was awoken before dawn by the sound of someone tripping over the rug in the hallway which Dean had dislocated when Sam pulled him into the room.

Sam went to his door to find Cate extracting herself from the floor and quietly cursing the rug. She stood up and turned around to find herself staring straight into Sam's t-shirt clad chest.

"Hey, are you okay?" asked Sam, steadying Cate with his hands on her shoulders.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I would be better if some one hadn't moved the rug," grumbled Cate.

"Where do you think you are going this early?" questioned Sam seeing that Cate was fully dressed.

"To take a walk and clear my head," Cate replied shrugging out of Sam's grasp.

"At five in the morning?" demanded Sam.

"It's been a rough night," said Cate simply.

A look of concern passed over Sam's face and he tentatively asked, "Does this have anything to do with Dean, because I saw him coming out of your room…"

Cate gave a sad sort of laugh, lacking all of her usual spirit, and said, "This has nothing to do with Dean. It's old business I need to deal with."

"Can I help?"

"Maybe, but I don't think the middle of the hallway is the place to talk about it. Follow me," said Cate and she grabbed Sam's hand moving through the many corridors of the seemingly endless house. They finally reached a room at the back of the house that Sam had never been in. He looked around, when Cate turned on the light, and saw that it a spacious room with windows on two walls, full shelves lined one of the remaining two and the fourth housed the door and several cabinets. The center of the room was occupied by a large object covered in a sheet. Cate moved forward and pulled back the piece of white material to reveal a beautiful grand-piano and two small chairs. Instantly eyeing the rest of the room Sam noticed the other items as cases for musical instruments and music stands; the shelves were filled with music and Sam could only guess what the cabinets held.

"Wow, this is amazing Cate, but why am I here?" asked Sam, confused.

"Because this is the quietest room in the house and I have a feeling you might start yelling," explained Cate.

"No, I won't," protested Sam.

"You say that now not knowing what I'm going to say," said Cate, putting a hand up to silence any of Sam's further protests, "So, I'll just begin: when I went to college I started, I don't know, wanting more, you know? Classes and parties, everything was so normal and I met this guy in my second and we started dating, by third year we were living together and in my fourth he proposed…"

"What?" shouted Sam.

"See, that's why I picked this room, but let me finish. So, I thought that I could have a normal life 'cause he was completely removed from this life. I started hunting less and I never told him about anything; hell, I 'quit' for him. Well, one week John showed up and said he needed my help on a job and I couldn't say no, I swore to myself that it would be the last time. Yeah, right," said Cate her voice cracking slightly, but remaining her composure, "When I got back I found him dead at the hand of something from my world. It was my fault, I just broke down. John must have heard me scream or something because he came in and dragged me out, before calling the authorities. We hit the road and never looked back and there went all my dreams of a normal life."

Sam just looked at Cate and then exploded: "So, all this time, all the times you have been there with Dean making fun of me for wanting a normal life, you wanted the same thing and you never said a word? For all the times you say what crap an ordinary life is, you wanted it? For all that you know about Jess and what I, _we_, went through, you never said anything?" yelled Sam, fury marring his features.

"Yeah, Sam I never said anything because that was my business, because I know now that we can't have that life and for what I know about Jess, I know her name and that she is dead. You're not too good with specifics. And why do you think I don't talk about it? It hurts and you know that: I don't see you opening up about it," returned Cate with as much vehemence.

"To who? Dean isn't exactly the shoulder-to-cry-on kind of guy," spat Sam.

"You complained about me not telling you, but sharing is a two way street," quipped Cate staring Sam straight in the eyes.

Sam, unable to hold her gaze, bowed his head and softly said, "I thought I would ask her to marry me."

"Oh, Sam," whispered Cate and closed the distance between them, pulling him into a hug.

"What was his name?" asked Sam into Cate's shoulder.

"Adam," mumbled Cate, her voice barely audible.

"I'm sorry," Sam said, pulling back from Cate to look her in the eyes. She was staring at the floor. Sam glanced over her head around the room and spotted several instruments. "Can you play all these?"

"Yeah, not well, but I can play them," responded Cate, glad for the change of topic.

Sam walked over to a sheet covered stand and pulled the material away to reveal an electric guitar, "Hey, you don't suppose you could teach me how to play this, do you? It would really piss Dean off to know that I could play his mullet rock."

Cate burst out laughing at Sam's petty motivation, but had no choice but to agree: "Sure, I'll teach you, but you must promise me one thing"

"Yeah, sure."

"You must not tell Dean where you learned, say you're teaching yourself, but make him as jealous as possible," laughed Cate.

"I solemnly swear," said Sam raising one hand to his heart and the other in the air, grinning widely.

"Okay, enough with that, we have work to do today and I have people to get reacquainted with in order to determine which one of the sons of bitches went to the dark side and is killing people," Cate grumbled as if she were merely annoyed by the situation.

"Yeah, when are you going to do that anyway?" inquired Sam.

"Well, the first event of the reunion is today and I thought I would go and try to find the most likely candidate for demon summoning and lean on them a bit. Hopefully they will crack and slip up while trying to hit the next victim and then I can swoop in for the kill. If that fails then I have two other events to get them to break at and I can find who had something against their dearly departed classmates," said Cate finishing with an exasperated sigh.

"Sounds fun, but do you really think you should go alone. I mean if some one has something out for people who went to your school couldn't you be in danger?" demanded Sam.

"Yeah, but I can take care of myself: I won't be caught unawares," countered Cate.

"Still, I would feel better if Dean or I went with you," Sam said, staring into Cate's eyes with a pleading look.

"Fine one of you can come, but only if you behave," conceded Cate.

"Well, then it better not be Dean," laughed Sam.

The pair left the music room and had just reached the hall, on their way to the kitchen, when they ran into Dean.

"Where have the two of been?" asked Dean, rubbing his hand across his face in attempt to wipe away the remnants of sleep.

"The music room," responded Cate immediately.

"This place has a music room? I have got to look around more: what else do you have?" questioned Dean, incredulous.

"Yeah, me and Cate were deciding how to handle the whole reunion thing. We decided that I will go with her as back up to the events," explained Sam.

"And I will do what, sit here twiddling my thumbs? No way Sammy," replied Dean.

"Well, what are we supposed to do? She can't have two dates," countered Sam.

"Then I should go. I have more experience," justified Dean.

"In what? I've spent more time in social situations like this: I'm more of a people person," argued Sam.

"In dealing with what we are hunting: the supernatural. Besides, I'm plenty social and very good at talking to people."

"No, you are good at talking your way into women's pants, not talking to people."

"Sammy, are you saying women aren't people? How very backward of you, this is why I should go."

"You know what I mean…"

All the while Cate was watching this exchange and growing more and more impatient: "Enough! The both of you just shut up. There is a civil way to settle this," interrupted a very frustrated Cate. "Rock, paper, scissors."

"You have got to be kidding me," mumbled Dean as he reluctantly stuck out his fist. On the count of three the two brothers opened their hands to reveal their choice. Sam's fingers were extended to form a vague resemblance to a pair of scissors, while Dean's hand was closed tightly in a fist. A smirk of triumph crossed Dean's face and Sam swore lightly under his breath.

"Hmm," huffed Cate with an interested expression on her face. "I guess Dean wins."

She turned to walk into the kitchen with the same look on her face that made it seem as if she was contemplating the great philosophers.

"No, you can't just walk away like that: what was with that expression, like you just had some great revelation," demanded Dean, him and Sam close on her heels.

"Its nothing really, just that "rock paper scissors" is representative of a person isn't it?" responded Cate vaguely.

"Sorry, I don't quite follow you," questioned Sam, equally as confused as Dean.

"In "rock paper scissors" each thing represents something: rock equals power, scissors equals knowledge and paper is money. Now you, Sam, chose knowledge, while Dean chose power: it sort of shows something about you and what you value, that maybe you wouldn't consciously admit," explained Cate.

"I'm not sure I like you analyzing me like this. How do you know this stuff anyway?" inquired Dean.

"I wanted to be a psychologist when I was in high school, but life got in the way. However, I have read a lot on the subject," responded Cate.

"Oh," was all that Dean could say as Cate moved to make much needed coffee.

"Yeah, so anyway, you will need to look presentable, which means a clean shirt, jeans with minimal holes in them and getting the mud out of your boots," ordered Cate. "The first event is a game of paint-ball this afternoon, so it is pretty casual, but terrible to talk to people at, so I'm hoping to do that tonight. There is a dinner being held at a local club: the old school band is going to play, there will be food and lots of alcohol: all in all, a much better place to find out who is doing this."

"Sweet, paintball: this is going to be fun," laughed Dean.

Four hours later, when Cate was sure Dean was presentable and that they were prepared to confront the one summoning the demons should they encounter them, Dean and Cate left the house. The arrived at the patch of woods being used for the paintball match to find the back of several standees. They got out of the car and moved toward the group of people standing near the crates of equipment and sign-in tables.

"And here she is, the woman of the hour," said a tall, dark-haired man, who Cate recognized as, Andrew Thomas, the head of the Grad-class committee.

Cate automatically looked behind her for the source of the excitement, but found no one. She cast a confused glance around her and found Andrew's arm around her shoulder.

"Now that is the comedy I remember. You are the guest of honor, silly: what with all you did in high school and the recent donation you made," grinned Andrew. "So we decided that this event should be the suggestion you made for an event in our grad year."

Cate dared look sideways and found that the standees were covered with pictures of everything Cate had ever been involved with in high school: her as one of the scantily clad, six merry murderesses in _Chicago, _as a pianist in every other musical production, her as president of the rifle club, as a member of the archery team and her editing the yearbook. Her hair was longer in the pictures, stopping at the small of her back, and she was in just as amazing shape. She caught a glance of Dean with a grin as wide as the Mississippi spread across his face.

"Wow, I don't know what to say," Cate managed to stammer out.

"Don't say anything: the look on your face is enough," said Carrie Smith, the not so bright ex-cheerleader. "And who is this? What man managed to snag you as a catch?"

Cate looked over at Dean: "That is Dean Winchester; he's a friend of the family. Our dads used to work together," explained Cate.

"Yeah, she is really wonderful," chimed in Dean, putting his arm around her waist, "A real spit-fire, but I had no idea that she was so involved in school. We really didn't connect until we were older, so I've never seen this side of her: isn't that right sweetheart. Do you think maybe I could get a copy of these photos?"

At this Cate jabbed him hard in the ribs and he curled over a bit in pain: "We should really get ready for the match," said Cate dragging Dean away from the crowd. "You say one thing and I swear…"

"What, man, you could have warned me that you were the freaking energizer bunny of school spirit. Do you still have that costume because, man, was it hot," commented Dean, unable to hide his smile.

"Shut up, I needed stuff to do and it was available," countered Cate.

"You can go bow hunting, sing and dance or take me to the shooting range any time you get bored," Dean said as he received the equipment from the coordinator.

"Hey, the archery and shooting clubs were regional champs when I was with them so don't you go ragging on me at how pathetic they are. I'd like to see you attempt the shots we perfected," snapped Cate.

"Oooh, touchy. Okay, I get it, you don't want anyone to know that at one point weren't such a badass, 'nough said," joked Dean.

"It's not that, just that it was a different time in my life and one that I had the rightful feeling you would mock. Now you know I was a music/drama geek, a yearbook editor, a multiple time regional shooting champion, and an archery champion. You could have found all this out if bothered to look, so it is your own fault for not knowing. Now if you would care to concentrate on the task at hand, we have a murdering psycho to find," grumbled Cate as she pushed past Dean and returned to the throng of people preparing and catching up.

Dean looked around assessing his opponents and promptly declared, "We are going to kick ass."

"Yeah, basically," agreed Cate with a distance established in her voice. She looked with concentration at the group and Dean couldn't tell if she was lost in the past or wholly concentrated on the task of finding the killer.

"Dude, are you even paying attention to me?" demanded Dean feeling like he was being ignored. "I could have asked you if you wanted to slip behind some bushes and go at it like horny teenagers and I think I would have gotten the same answer," mumbled Dean irritably under his breath.

"If I'm a dude and you just suggested that, does that make you gay?" responded Cate absentmindedly.

"Not fair, when I do that to Sam he isn't paying attention," grumbled Dean.

"You proposition your brother. That's just wrong," is Cate's automatic response, a grin growing on her face.

"Eww, no: I mean…I usually taunt him that he wears women's underwear," countered Dean quickly.

"How do you know he doesn't?" asked Cate.

"What?!"

"I said how do you know he doesn't wear women's underwear? It could become a sore spot if you keep teasing him about it. You really should stop," replied Cate in all seriousness.

"You don't think he really does?" asked Dean a look of pure horror on his face.

Cate just laughed and turned to Dean: "I know he doesn't. You honestly don't think your laundry has been doing itself these past months," questioned Cate.

"You've been doing our laundry?" said Dean a little shocked. Cate just shook her head in confirmation, laughing at Dean's ignorance. "I never really noticed."

"Yeah, well, you're welcome," grumbled Cate. "Anyway, they are splitting us up into teams and I want to be on her team," Cate pointed toward a conservatively dressed brunette, standing slightly away from the rest of the group.

"Now don't tell me you had an experimental stage in high school and it is coming back full swing: that just might kill me," joked Dean.

"No, that's Jaclyn McGregor and she was an out-going, giggly cheerleader in high school and she looks like she's changed a bit, the experimental phase was college," replied Cate, a wicked grin playing at the corners of her mouth.

"And now you expect me to concentrate on finding some demon summoning psycho," groaned Dean, suddenly unable to picture anything other than him walking in a on a slightly younger Cate and her unnamed partner and some how winding up between the two of them.

"You do realize I was lying, right?" responded Cate.


End file.
